


100 Days My Accountant

by AnAddictionToCinnamonBuns



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Also Inspired by The Vow, Angst, F/M, Falling In Love, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Inspired by 100 Days my Prince, M/M, Memory Loss, Mystery, No more tags BECAUSE TAGS MEAN SPOILERS, Y'all are about to feel very bad for Chanyeol, everyone is trying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 39,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnAddictionToCinnamonBuns/pseuds/AnAddictionToCinnamonBuns
Summary: "The last thing I remember was getting engaged to Jongin last week."A car accident wipes away the last 6 years of Kyungsoo's life, the time before he started working in the accounting department at Park Corporations which is coincidentally when he fell in love with, and married Chanyeol.In his fight to reopen Kyungsoo's heart, Chanyeol is going to open up a past he never knew about.Will Chanyeol be able to conquer these new circumstances before the ending of Kyungsoo's love story is rewritten?~~~ "Imagine if the person that gave you the best memories became a forgotten fragment of the past"~~~
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 51
Kudos: 98





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY HUGE DISCLAIMER
> 
> \- I DID NOT WATCH THE VOW, I only watched the trailer, I totally stole a bunch of stuff from the trailer but if anything happens in this fic that also happens in the movie and wasn't in the trailer - it was a coincidence,  
> \- I however did watch 100 Days My Prince xd, might take some scenes from it idk LMAO.
> 
> Now enjoy this messy first chapter~

Chanyeol found many things beautiful. 

He found flowers beautiful with their delicate petals and vibrant colors. Especially the bouquet of roses and baby's breath on his desk that he had bought in the morning. 

He found the birds flying in the sky beautiful. Watching them from his office on the 12th floor everyday while he typed away on his computer, they soared with ease and their graceful movements told an amazing story. 

A knock came from his office door. 

"Come in." And in that moment, the door opened wide and Chanyeol smiled even wider. He watched his husband reciprocate his smile and walk into the room, his movements were graceful like the birds as he closed the door and made his way over to Chanyeol. His large doe eyes caught the sunlight when he sat beside Chanyeol and his pale face shone, his eyes sparkled and and he broke out into a heart shaped smile when Chanyeol stuttered a greeting in front of him. 

"We've been married for 4 years and I can't believe I still have that effect on you." 

Chanyeol found many things beautiful, but Kyungsoo was the most beautiful of them all. 

"Why did you come visit?" Chanyeol pouted when Kyungsoo picked up the bouquet on the desk, "Those flowers were supposed to be a surprise."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't wait knowing that today is our anniversary but I'm glad you remembered." Kyungsoo sat on Chanyeol's lap. 

"Did you think I would forget? I haven't forgotten it yet." Kyungsoo laughed and traced a circle on Chanyeol's shoulder.

"I'm just checking, don't want you to suddenly have amnesia from all the work you're doing." Chanyeol tried to fake glare at him but the endearing look in Kyungsoo's eyes melted him right away. He leaned over and pecked Kyungsoo on the lips. 

The fleeting kiss left Kyungsoo giggling like a teenager and he sank into Chanyeol's arms and rested his head on his shoulder. It was Chanyeol's turn to laugh at him.

"We've been married for 4 years and I can't believe I still have that effect on you." 

"Hey, you can't use my words against me." Kyungsoo muttered into Chanyeol's shoulder. Chanyeol ignored the comment and rubbed Kyungsoo's back, causing him to melt into his arms even further. 

The way Kyungsoo melted into his arms perfectly, the way he was humming a light spring melody as they basked in the tranquil environment, Kyungsoo made every moment of life beautiful. 

"We can't stay here forever Soo, we have plans." 

"Same restaurant?" Kyungsoo lifted himself off Chanyeol and tilted his head in question. "Aww you're so cute." Chanyeol squished Kyungsoo's cheek. 

"Yah," Kyungsoo swatted Chanyeol's hand away, "I'm not cute." 

"Okay, I'm sorry Mr. handsome, and yes, it is the same restaurant." Kyungsoo smiled in satisfaction and hopped off Chanyeol's lap. 

"When's the reservation?" 

"In about an hour." 

Kyungsoo smiled and took Chanyeol's hand.

"Perfect." 

..

"Hi Kyungsoo." The duo were walking down the hall when Chanyeol's sister, Yoora appeared from around the corner, she was the CEO of their parents company company and while Chanyeol did share the duties with her, he didn't like having the title, thus why she was the CEO. "and happy anniversary." 

"Thanks Yoora!" Kyungsoo said happily. 

"I'm guessing you two are heading out for the day then?" 

"Yeah." Chanyeol said. Yoora turned to him.

"How's the proposal going Chanyeol?" 

"I think it's almost done, probably another few weeks." 

"Sounds good, the deadline is in a couple of months anyways." Yoora nodded to both of them, "I have a meeting to go to, I'll catch you both later."

"Bye noona." Chanyeol smiled at his sister as she disappeared from sight. 

"I heard one of the workers talking about how she came in at 6am today, will she ever stop being a workaholic?" Chanyeol laughed at Kyungsoo's side comment.

"Well look at it like this, if I was the official CEO, then I would be the workaholic." Kyungsoo frowned at him. 

"You wouldn't dar-"

"Where are you two lovebirds going?" Kyungsoo's best friend, Baekhyun, was walking towards the two. 

"It's our anniversary, we're going out." Baekhyun clasped his hands together.

"Ah yes, sounds like a very special night," Baekhyun smirked, "Chanyeol, Try not to have too much fun with Kyungsoo tonight, his legs still need to function for our game night tomorrow " When he raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, Kyungsoo automatically raised his right hand and Baekhyun squeaked, taking a step back but still letting out a laugh. 

"Don't sleep tonight, you might die in your sleep tonight and I wouldn't want to spend game night alone tomorrow." Kyungsoo deadpanned. 

Baekhyun laughed again, "If you say so, anyways I have to go over the daily report with Seohyun, have fun~" Baekhyun grinned at Kyungsoo's glare and walked away. "By the way, congratulations!"

When Chanyeol looked back to Kyungsoo, a small smile was tugging at his lips. 

"You would never kill him." Kyungsoo broke out into a full on smile. 

"You're right, I won't, but it doesn't mean I can't put him to near death." He joked, "Now let's go."

...

_They both enjoyed going to the same fancy restaurant every anniversary. It was the place they went to on their first date. After Chanyeol had managed to break down Kyungsoo's walls and shakily ask him out. He had went the cliche route for someone of his wealth and Kyungsoo had laughed at him when they had first walked into the five star restaurant._

_Chanyeol had assumed the reaction was negative and was hiding behind his menu trying to figure out how to save a failed date before Kyungsoo pulled the menu away from his face and smiled at him softly._

_"You don't need to impress me with how much money you can spend on food in one sitting. I like you for who you are."_

_And that's one of the first times that Chanyeol knew that Kyungsoo was going to be the one._

"Hey," Kyungsoo pulled the menu out of Chanyeol's face, he was hiding behind it again. He reached over the table and placed his hand on Chanyeol's, "you're not too stressed over the proposal are you?"

"Sorry, is it showing? Seohyun hasn't gotten back to me with the first revisions on the budget for it, Yoora was breathing down my neck about it yesterday and it's killing me. 

"Then I'll help you release some of that tension tonight." Kyungsoo said with a wink. Chanyeol felt his ears tinge red, before they even got together, Kyungsoo was never the shameless one. At least the appearance of their waitress gave Chanyeol an opportunity to hide his face behind his menu.

After the waitress left, Chanyeol quickly changed the topic to avoid Kyungsoo making him feel even hotter in public. 

"So, how's the cookbook going along?" Kyungsoo beamed at him. 

Kyungsoo used to work in Chanyeol's company in the accounting department, but the two got together because of a very persistent Chanyeol and some events. Eventually, with Chanyeol's help, Kyungsoo had left the accounting department and was currently looking into pursuing his dream of cooking by releasing a cookbook and eventually opening a restaurant. 

"I think it's going great, and thanks again for funding for the book." But Kyungsoo said it with a slight grimace where the left side of his mouth would stretch slightly to far to be normal, something was off. 

"Are you sure it's going great?" 

"Yeah....." Kyungsoo's eyes darted to the left and then up. 

"You're lying, you know I can tell when you're lying." Kyungsoo sighed. 

"Something feels missing, I think the book needs one more recipe to make it special but I can't put my finger on it." Chanyeol nodded at Kyungsoo's words.

"Don't worry, you'll figure something out and you don't need to rush because we're not giving you a due date, unless you want to go back to the accounting department?" 

Kyungsoo half-heartedley glared at him, "No, I might have to murder Baekhyun if he keeps bothering me." 

Suddenly, the waitress arrived and placed their food in front of them. They both thanked her and dug in after she walked away.

They basked in the comfortable silence that loomed over the table as they ate, save for the momentary foot fights they kept having under the table, making Kyungsoo giggle constantly as he kept dominating Chanyeol's feet. 

When they were nearly finished their plates, a waiter and someone dressed as the manager were walking past them and talking in hushed yet panicked tones.

"What happened to the jazz singer? She just ran off the stage."

"The jazz singer got food poisoning from something, she's throwing up in the bathroom." 

"Her set was almost done, what are we supposed to do to fill up the extra time?" 

Kyungsoo's eyebrow perked at the duo's conversation and he sent a glance at Chanyeol before he turned around to the pair still talking behind them. "My husband and I would love to cover it." 

"Kyungsoo?" 

"Relax Chanyeol," Kyungsoo reached over and held Chanyeol's hand, "We've been so busy that I miss the times when we would just sit at the fireplace and sing together. It's our anniversary, let's make it special." 

Kyungsoo grabbed Chanyeol's hand and led him up to the simple set up, a grand piano with a microphone attached to it and another microphone stand off to the side. Kyungsoo grabbed the microphone off the stand while Chanyeol settled into the piano. The diners in the room fell silent as they observed the new performers. 

"I don't know about this Kyungsoo," Chanyeol whispered into Kyungsoo's ear, "It's been a while since I've touched a guitar, let alone a piano." 

"Don't worry, we'll do something simple, we'll do this song." Kyungsoo showed him a lyric sheet on his phone. 

"That's one of my favorite songs..." Kyungsoo gave him a gummy smile. 

"Silly, that's one of our favorite songs, now let's do this." Kyungsoo hopped onto the piano and gave Chanyeol a nod. With one more reassuring look, they started. 

_**This life has twists and turns, but it's the sweetest mystery when you're with me~** _

_**We say a thousand words when no one else is listening ~** _

_**I will be~** _

_**every night and every day, no matter what may come our way, we're in this thing together~** _

_**The dark turns to light, we both come alive, tonight~** _

_**I'm talking about forever~** _

With a quick break before the chorus, Chanyeol sneaked a glance up at Kyungsoo, who's eyes were closed as he sang with his hand gripping the microphone tightly. Kyungsoo seemed to notice Chanyeol's stare on him, opening his eyes and smiling at him. The action drew a reaction from the crowd, as their whispers grew in volume.

_**Never gonna let you go~** _

_**Giving you my heart and soul~** _

_**I'll be right here with you for life~** _

_**Oh, baby all I wanna do ~** _

_**Is spend my every second with you~** _

_**So look in my eyes~** _

_**I'll be by your side~** _

_**The storms may come and winds may blow~** _

_**I'll be your shelter for life~** _

_**This love, this love~** _

_**I mean it till the day I die~** _

Kyungsoo's voice resonated throughout the restaurant, some people in the audience cheered and Chanyeol couldn't help but fall harder at how beautiful he sounded. 

_**Oh, never gonna let you go~** _

_**Giving you my heart and soul~** _

_**I'll be right here with you for life~** _

_**Oh, baby all i wanna do is spend my every second with you~** _

_**So look in my eyes~** _

_**I'll be by your side~** _

_**Yeah look in my eyes~** _

_**I'll be by your side~** _

_**For life.~** _

The cheers of the audience resonating in their ears, Chanyeol opened his eyes to find Kyungsoo looking at him fondly, and before he knew it. Kyungsoo was pulling him up and drawing him for a kiss that drew an uproar from the crowd.

~~~

"I couldn't have asked for tonight to go any other way." Chanyeol said as he drove the car out of the restaurant's parking lot, the restaurant had let them have their meals on the house and even requested for them to come in and sing some other time, they had promised that if time in their schedules allowed, that they would gladly come again. "It still brings me back to that day."

"Oh god, can you not get sentimental, you're driving." Kyungsoo deadpanned, but Chanyeol didn't even have to turn to feel the little smirk on the end of Kyungsoo's statement, encouraging him to continue.

"I'll never forget when you sang that song for me at our wedding."

.

_Chanyeol could never forget the moment he stood at the alter, waiting for Kyungsoo to appear. But Baekhyun had suddenly stood up from his spot in the first row and made his way to the piano at the side of the church. The guests, even Chanyeol, were confused when Baekhyun started playing, and then Kyungsoo's honey voice had cut through the air._

**This life has twists and turns~**

_Kyungsoo was standing on the other end of the aisle with a microphone in his hand, singing to Chanyeol with all the love he could give. When he finally ended the song and ended up in front of Chanyeol, holding his hands, Chanyeol was already a crying and stuttering mess. He could barely make it past his vows and Kyungsoo laughed at him all the way through, trying to cover up the tears welling in his eyes._

_"You may now kiss the-"_

_Chanyeol didn't let the priest finish, swooping Kyungsoo in for a kiss that left their guests, especially Baekhyun, hollering with joy._

_"The love of my life." Chanyeol muttered to Kyungsoo when they broke apart, both with smiles and tears on their faces._

. 

"You were so beautiful in the moment, and you're still as beautiful."

"Ack." Kyungsoo fake gagged, "Now that's too cheesy for me," But he said it with a smile on his face. 

"I still have the recording on my phone~" 

"Of course you do." Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, but pulled out Chanyeol's phone from the cup holder and quickly located it from the videos section. He plugged it into the car's audio system and the magical song once again came to life in the car. 

The car stopped at a red light and Chanyeol quickly glanced over at Kyungsoo's face as his vocals flowed over the verse, a small smile playing on his lips as he stared mindlessly out the window, deep in thought. Chanyeol smiled to himself as well and started the car again as the green light came on.

_**The storms may come and winds may blow~** _

_**I'll be your shelter for life~** _

_**This love, this love~** _

_**I mean it till the day I die~~~** _

The car came to a halt at another red light and Kyungsoo bit his lip. 

"You know, I don't think this can wait until we get home." He unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to pull Chanyeol in for a deep kiss. 

The memories must have ignited a fire in Kyungsoo's heart, he was chasing every movement Chanyeol made and wound his arms tightly around Chanyeol's neck.

Their lips melded into each other perfectly, every tiny movement drew out a pleased hum from Kyungsoo's throat and the vibrations were earning an equally pleased groan from Chanyeol's lips. 

Kyungsoo always had this effect on him, bringing him onto cloud 9 and kissing him as if it was his last. 

They broke apart briefly and they connected their foreheads, panting for air but smiling at each other warmly. 

"Chanyeol." Kyungsoo's breath ghosted over his lips as he leaned in for another kiss, "I love yo-" 

A loud screech cut off Kyungsoo and before either of them could even react- 

**CRASH!**

Something slammed into their car behind them and the next few moments became a whir in Chanyeol's head. 

His head suddenly hurt a lot and his ears were ringing, his vision was blurry as he placed a hand to the back of his neck, feeling an open wound and blood rushing out of the area. 

His eyes darted around as he tried to make sense of his gatherings, everything around him was a mess, the windows were shattered, the steering wheel was displaced and the Hawaiian girl that danced on the dash was broken, Kyungsoo had bought that as a souvenir when they went to Hawaii for vacation once. 

But where was Kyungsoo? 

Chanyeol's eyes widened when he saw the seat beside him was empty, but then he realized there was a foot beside the broken Hawaiian girl and Chanyeol could feel his vision start to fade as he started to make sense of the horrible scene in front of him. 

Kyungsoo was flung out of his seat and had burst out of the front window so that he was sprawled across the hood of the car, blood pooling all over his forehead as Chanyeol tried to reach out to him. 

"Kyungsoo....." 

He blacked out. 

**~~And with a snap, what if you lost everything just like that?~~**

"Kyungsoo!" Chanyeol was tired, he was so tired of chasing him. If he kept going for 10 more minutes, then he'd be able to reach Kyungsoo. 

But Kyungsoo was slowly drifting away from him, every step Chanyeol took, Kyungsoo went two steps further, and soon, Chanyeol was stuck watching Kyungsoo across a vast expanse of a field as he stood at the edge of a cliff. 

All of a sudden, another figure appeared beside Kyungsoo and without sparing Chanyeol another glance, they held hands and disappeared off the cliff. 

**~~I had a nightmare, before I could hug you, who was crying, I woke up~~**

~~~

Chanyeol woke up with a jolt. His eyes opening up and quickly taking in the surroundings. From the white walls to the bouquet of flowers to his right along with the sounds of a machine beeping and the distinguishable scent of antisceptics, he was in a hospital room. 

"Kyungsoo....." His voice came out hoarsely and a nurse entered his view. 

"You startled me there Mr. Park, patients usually don't jolt out of their comas." 

"Coma?" Chanyeol was still trying to process everything. 

"Yes, you've been knocked out for a couple of days. I'll go get the doctor to make sure you're okay." 

.

Another nurse came in before the doctor did, placing breakfast on his table side and ignoring his questions about Kyungsoo before disappearing. 

"Are you sure you don't know where my husband is?" 

"The doctor has arrived." The nurse replied instead and left the room, Chanyeol frowned. 

The doctor came in, exchanged a few polite greetings, and did a quick check over on Chanyeol. Afterwards he brought a clipboard up to his face and glanced over it a bit before looking up again.

"You were rear ended by a truck. It was dark and the driver wasn't paying attention. You actually seem fine, a mild concussion from slamming your head on the steering wheel and a few scratches here and there. But at least your seatbelt stayed on, it kept you in place." The doctor scribbled something on his clipboard. 

"Have you been stressed lately? The only reason you got knocked into a coma was because your body was already overworked, it was struggling to handle the impact of that car crash." 

"I've been working on an important proposal for my company for the last couple of months," The doctor hummed in acknowledgement. "But what do you mean that at least my seatbelt stayed on?" 

The doctor put down his clipboard and moved across the room, sitting on Chanyeol's bed. As if on cue, a couple of nurses also entered the room. 

"Now Chanyeol, after what I tell you, you can't freak out okay? Your body is still exhausted."

Chanyeol bit his lip, now he was getting nervous.

"Okay......."

"Your husband, Kyungsoo, was not in such a good condition as you." The doctor quickly placeed a hand on Chanyeol's knee, already seeing the panic raise in the other's face.

"I don't know what happened to his seatbelt but he flew out of his seat when the impact happened. He had a head on impact with the window and because of how durable that glass is made and how sharp it was after it broke, he took a lot of damage to his head. We managed to save his internal bleeding from hemorrhaging but we're not sure what the extent of the injury is, the brain is pretty complex you know." 

Chanyeol wasn't so sure how to react, he wanted to burst out of his bed and run to Kyungsoo but the nurses and doctor surrounding him were a different story. Too bad his body works on impulse. 

"Sir, please calm down." One of the nurses said as they both stopped Chanyeol from rising from his bed. "You running up will only hurt you." 

"Is he stable?" Chanyeol asked. 

"Yes, now, we're waiting for him to regain consciousness. A few tests have shown that his body is recovering at a steady rate which is good so he's settled in a recovery room."

"Can I see him?" The doctor smiled softly. 

"Of course." 

Chanyeol's heart broke when a nurse led him into Kyungsoo's room. 

The top of his husband's head was wrapped heavily with gauze and several small cuts painted his face. He was breathing softly, in tune with the machine beeping beside him. 

"Oh, Kyungsoo, you didn't deserve this." Chanyeol traced Kyungsoo's jawline, "I wish I could take your place." Tears blurred his vision as he took his husband's hand in his. 

"I'll leave you for a while, please don't leave the room without me." The nurse said before exiting. 

Chanyeol stayed with Kyungsoo in silence, closing his eyes to listen to his soft breath's and trace small circles on his wrist. A tear would occasionally fall on Kyungsoo's hand and Chanyeol would wipe it away with a heavy sigh. 

This was an ironic predicament, 3 years ago, Chanyeol was comforting a disheveled Kyungsoo as they both stood beside a hospital bed for- 

"Chanyeol?" Breaking his train of thought, Chanyeol looked up to see Baekhyun standing at the door. Baekhyun's face lit up and he came up to Chanyeol, to hug him. 

"I'm glad you're okay, but how are you feeling?" Chanyeol knew that question was directed to how he was feeling about Kyungsoo's state. 

"The doctor said that he should be fine, so I'll be fine too." 

"That's the spirit, Kyungsoo's got a lot of fight in him, there's a reason he has the energy to kill me all the time." Baekhyun said jokingly to lighten the mood, it helped lift Chanyeol's mood a bit. 

Chanyeol's routine became the same the following week. After getting discharged from the hospital, he spent all of his free time sitting beside Kyungsoo, stroking a loose strand out of the other's forehead, giving his hand a little squeeze, laying his head down on Kyungsoo's lap and shutting his eyes for a while. 

It was during one of those visits, when Chanyeol sat quietly watching over Kyungsoo and a couple of nurses were in the room, adjusting his iv and cleaning the room, did Kyungsoo start to stir. 

It started with a twitch of his thumb in Chanyeol's hand. 

"Kyungsoo?" Kyungsoo started to stir and it caught the nurse's attention. 

"Go get the doctor." One said to the other, and she left the room. Chanyeol's face lit up as Kyungsoo's eyes slowly fluttered open, taking in the light and adjusting to their surroundings.

"Kyungsoo!" Chanyeol said excitedly.

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, still blinking rapidly, trying to gain consciousness to make sense of the person in front of him. Chanyeol smiled at him happily and waited for him to adjust. 

When it seemed like Kyungsoo was almost ready, Chanyeol spoke up again. 

"Rise and shine~~" He couldn't contain his happiness, "how are you feeling?" 

Kyungsoo groaned and slowly brought a hand to his head "My head hurts doctor...." 

Doctor? Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and exchanged a look with the nurse beside him. 

"No you silly I'm not your doctor I'm your --" Chanyeol's hand reached out to caress the other's cheek but Kyungsoo retracted away from the hand before they could make contact. 

"Then who are you?" Kyungsoo's voice was so small and there was a slight sense of fear in those eyes that used to only look at Chanyeol with love, now he was looking at him as if he was going to murder him. 

The nurse grabbed Chanyeol's arm before he could answer that question. 

"Don't worry, I'll get you the doctor." The nurse said to Kyungsoo and led Chanyeol out of the room. 

Chanyeol stole one more glance back at Kyungsoo who was looking back at him with a blank stare and he felt something inside him break. "Did he lose his memory?" 

"No, it's just." The nurse was growing flustered, "We'll get the doctor to run some tests before we have a verdict, he just woke up so everything was probably foggy to him."

~~~

Chanyeol was let back into the room after the doctor started talking to Kyungsoo, he walked in to see Kyungsoo staring thoughtfully out the window as the doctor spoke to him. 

"So, your vitals seems to show that you're recovering nicely, how do you feel Kyungsoo?" Kyungsoo played with the hem of his blanket. 

"I still have a tiny headache, can I have some advil? And one more thing..." 

"Yeah?"

Am I married?" Kyungsoo held up his left hand and gazed at the golden band on his ring finger. "I don't remember getting married so soon...." 

"Are you sure Kyungsoo? It's 2026." The doctor said. 

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows at the doctor, "What do you mean? Isn't it January 20, 2020?"

Chanyeol's eyes widened. 

_No, this couldn't be happening._

"The last thing I remember was getting engaged to Jongin last week, did you put my engagement ring somewhere?"

"No!" Chanyeol released himself from the nurse's hold and ran up to Kyungsoo and grabbed his hand. "Please, Soo, you're joking, we've been in love for 6 years!" Tears started to blur Chanyeol's vision as he tried to locate any positive emotion in Kyungsoo's face. 

But his eyes grew wide and his lips quivered in fear. 

"I don't even know you! We've never met!" Kyungsoo was starting to stress out. "Did something happen to Jongin, where is he!" 

Before Chanyeol could talk more, three nurses were pulling him out of the room. 

"Okay, that's enough." One of the nurses grunted from the force Chanyeol was putting on them.

"You have to let him calm down, then we'll figure it out from there." Another nurse said. 

"Where is Jongin, I want to see my fiance!" Kyungsoo's heartbroken sobs were breaking Chanyeol's heart, all he wanted to do was hold him in his arms and wipe his tears away. 

But that name, Jongin, why couldn't Chanyeol put any memory to it. Thinking about the name brought a tinge of pain to Chanyeol's head, he gripped it and groaned at the sharpness all of a sudden. 

"Sir, are you okay?" Chanyeol fell out of the nurses hold. 

Jongin, Jongin, Jongin, Chanyeol's sure that Kyungsoo said something about him before but he can't remember what he did to Kyungsoo.

"I need a gurney and a doctor, he's blacking out!" The command was the last thing Chanyeol heard before he blacked out. 

~~~

Chanyeol stared at the white wall blankly while a nurse ushered a cup of water into his hand. 

"You said that name gave you a headache but you couldn't remember anything about it?" The doctor was standing beside the nurse. "It seems like you may have suffered some memory loss as well." 

"Oh.... How much memory loss?"

"Well it seems that whoever this person is, your brain was trying to forget them for a long time anyways, and because you hit your head on the steering wheel, it helped release any memories surrounding that specific person." 

"Oh, okay." Chanyeol didn't feel like caring about the doctor's statement, after the breakdown he felt void of emotion. 

"We'll leave you for a bit." The doctor and nurse left the room. They walked across the hall and Chanyeol could hear Kyungsoo still crying when they opened the other door. 

"I-is Jongin c-coming yet?" Was the last thing Chanyeol heard before the door closed. 

His eyes welled with tears again.

If Kyungsoo really did lose his memory back to January 20, 2020, then he would have no trace of Chanyeol at all because they met in June of that same year, when Kyungsoo applied to work at his company. 

"No! Minseok's my best friend, what happened to Minseok! Where is he?!" Another series of shouting from Kyungsoo erupted and eventually, Baekhyun showed up at the door to Chanyeol's room.

"Hey," Baekhyun sat beside Chanyeol on his bed, he was never this solemn. "He didn't get amnesia did he? That'd be ridiculous." Baekhyun tried to laugh it off. 

"He did get amnesia, he's forgot the last 6 years." Chanyeol said and Baekhyun stopped laughing. "He forgot that we even fell in love." 

"Oh." Baekhyun's smile faltered and he seemed resigned for a moment. "I think it'll be okay, if I could befriend him before I can do it again. Which means if he could fall for you once, he can fall for you again. And I'll help you, just like I did the first time." He assured Chanyeol. 

"But somethings different." Chanyeol's gaze shifted outside the window, "I think he's still in love with someone else." 

"He is?" Baekhyun sat on the edge of Chanyeol's bed. "He never wanted to bring up his past love life, who is it, maybe we can dig something up, and wouldn't you remember anything about his ex?" 

"His name's Kim Jongin, but it's complicated," Chanyeol sighed, "I have partial memory loss too and I forgot everything about him, I have no idea what happened with him and Kyungsoo." 

"That's fine," Baekhyun placed his hand on Chanyeol's shoulder, "Everything's chaotic right now, how about you take a few deep breathers, try to have a proper conversation with Kyungsoo when he's calmed down, and I'll go see if I can find anything on this Kim Jongin guy." Chanyeol nodded wordlessly at Baekhyun and Baekhyun smiled at him before leaving. 

But Chanyeol didn't miss the slight slump of Baekhyun's shoulders right before he disappeared from view, he was more affected by it then he was showing. 

Chanyeol eventually grew tired of wallowing in self pity, maybe Kyungsoo would wake up tomorrow and be okay, or maybe he could wake up tomorrow and everything would be a dream instead. He stood up from the bed, maybe some coffee from the cafeteria would clear his mind better. He walked swiftly out of his room, not wanting to look back at Kyungsoo's room at the moment but Kyungsoo's voice resonated in his thoughts. 

"Hey, you look familiar, didn't I see you last week?" Kyungsoo voice echoed through his open door. Chanyeol turned back and saw Yoora standing at Kyungsoo's doorway. She was fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist. 

"Haha no. I don't think so." She said and walked away, she made eye contact with Chanyeol and walked up to him. 

"Baekhyun texted me everything so I didn't want to confuse Kyungsoo, I've been the CEO for a while so he probably saw me in one of those business magazines before, let's go to the cafeteria to get some food into your system." She walked off down the hall and Chanyeol could only stand in confusion for a while. 

"It's probably nothing." He muttered. 

He decided to give Kyungsoo's room one more peek, maybe he was regaining his memory if he had a vague memory of Yoora. 

Kyungsoo was still looking down at his wedding ring when Chanyeol tried to discreetly poke his head inside, there were tear stains on his cheeks and a bundle of tissues on his side table. 

Chanyeol wanted to run up and kiss him, hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. 

But everything wasn't okay, not when Kyungsoo looked up at him and a sense of wariness flashed across his face. Kyungsoo quickly looked away from Chanyeol and hid under his covers, turning away.

Chanyeol sighed and walked away from the room, feeling another set of tears forming in his eyes. 

_**I won't let go of even the smallest memories because when they come back, I will find you......... because that's love.** _

************************************

2nd black text - Exo - My Turn to Cry

Song Used - Exo - For Life (D.O's English Version)

Final black text (The one you see above) - Exo - Universe

I'm gonna write the first author's note here because I hate the thing AO3 does with carrying the first author's note into every chapter.

Sorry if the first half was too gross, I had to build up the relationship fast because I was going to break it down fast, literally.

I was also extremely close with making the main couple Kyungsoo/Jongin, the ex fiance Junmyeon, and the best friend Chanyeol. This was an extreme last minute switch and I actually ended up altering the plot to fix this character dynamic so I hope this works better.

If you liked this, please let me know below and if something needs fixing, omg let me know because it's 3am. 

Bye~~

P.S. I'm just going to say this now because I hope it was obvious from various lines of dialogue and the title of this story. Yes, Kyungsoo is going back to the accounting department!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're all trying give everyone a break xD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too lazy to edit BECAUSE IT'S 2am I'll do it later today or tomorrow lmao.
> 
> I CAN'T GET OVER THE PANCAKE SCENE.
> 
> That's all I'm saying
> 
> Now enjoy

"So, we are married?" It was the next day and Kyungsoo seemed to have calmed down enough and was starting to make sense of the fact that 6 years had passed. After a check in with one of the therapists, Chanyeol had been allowed to come back and talk to him. 

"Yeah we are, we got married in 2022." Chanyeol smiled sheepishly, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to act around Kyungsoo anymore and the best way to stop himself from doing the wrong thing was to sit on the other side of the room from Kyungsoo. 

"You like Thursdays because they are signaling the end of the week but don't bring as much chaos as Fridays do. You're not lactose intolerant but you think almond milk tastes way better than regular milk and when you're stressed you like to think of murdering an ant colony. Also you're really clingy in your sleep."

"Oh......" Kyungsoo blushed at the last remark. "I guess you do know me," He sighed, "Jongin knew all of those things too......" 

And there it was again, Jongin, Chanyeol's mind began to stir. 

That 10 month gap between Kyungsoo's supposed engagement and his first interaction with Chanyeol and he knew nothing about it. 

"What happened with you and Jongin?" Kyungsoo frowned. 

"I don't remember, but Jongin was so selfless, so caring and I thought Jongin was the one even before he proposed I-..... I'm sorry," Kyungsoo stopped when he realized that Chanyeol's demeanor was faltering, "I shouldn't be talking about this." 

"No, it's okay, I can see it." It was the way Kyungsoo's eyes were sparkling yet longing as he reminisced on his time with Jongin, the small tilt of his lips as he was starting to recount their memories together, "You still love him."

"I'm sorry." Kyungsoo looked away from Chanyeol, ashamed for something that wasn't even his fault. 

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two for a while and Chanyeol felt himself suffocating from it, he almost had to excuse himself from the room for a breather before Kyungsoo turned back to him, with a tear glistening in his eye. 

"If I met you and fell in love with you later on, that means something happened between Jongin and I. Who knows, maybe he cheated on me." Kyungsoo laughed bitterly and it broke Chanyeol on the inside, he knew that Kyungsoo was lying to himself to make Chanyeol feel better. 

"But Chanyeol, if life led me to you then I want to try." 

"What do you mean Kyungsoo?" 

"Jongin's probably a thing of the past for a reason, so I want you to show me what it's like to fall in love with you. If I could fall in love with you once, I can probably do it again." 

He's so similar to Baekhyun yet so different, it was no wonder they became best friends, Chanyeol thought.

"Ack," Kyungsoo looked away again, this time in embarrassment. "That sounded better in my head." 

But the words had already had their impact on Chanyeol and he immediately found himself standing beside Kyungsoo reaching over to put his hand on his shoulder. 

And when Kyungsoo still flinched away from the touch and gave Chanyeol an apologetic look, Chanyeol still looked at him with a smile and said, 

"Thank you Kyungsoo." 

Because he was being given an opportunity to fix a mess. 

Because that's what love is all about.

Getting through the shit together.

~~~

Kyungsoo was let out of the hospital two days after, and Chanyeol for once appreciated all the extra work he had to catch up on which had accumulated after the accident. 

He spent many hours in various meeting rooms, discussions with all of the departments, and compiling all of the reports together, and it helped take his mind off of what he was supposed to do when Kyungsoo would be discharged. 

Baekhyun laughed watching Chanyeol pace back and forth at his office door, "Man the last time I've seen you this worked up was," Baekhyun realized what he was about to say and stopped the thought from coming out, "I rarely see you this worked up." 

"Do you think Kyungsoo even wants to go home? Maybe he'll feel uncomfortable being near me and move out." 

Baekhyun leaned on the wall. "You said he wanted to try. He's not going to run away from your house the moment he steps in. Maybe staying there will bring back some memories."

"You're right." Chanyeol stopped pacing, "Okay, I'm off!" With his new sense of confidence, he comically marched off, leaving a cackling Baekyun. 

Kyungsoo was sitting neatly on his hospital bed when Chanyeol arrived, hands folded in his lap and his posture straightened while he looked out the window with his back turned to the door. 

"Hey." Kyungsoo turned at Chanyeol's voice. "Ready to go?" 

Kyungsoo nodded, "Yeah....." 

"One more thing." The doctor appeared in the doorway as well and handed a piece of paper to Chanyeol. "Because we're monitoring his situation please make sure he comes back to the hospital once a week. We have a therapist for him and we'll check the condition of his head. Also if he gets a headache give him some advil, if it persists over an hour bring him back here." 

"Thank you." Chanyeol bowed to the doctor and looked back at Kyungsoo. "Let's go." 

Chanyeol expected the drive to their house to be awkward, but it wasn't because Kyungsoo had fallen asleep the moment the car started. He was always prone to napping in moving vehicles and the mental exhaustion combined over the past few days must have been wearing him out.

Their house was a modest 3 bedroom single house and it's smaller than it sounds. Despite their income, Kyungsoo was never one for luxury even if Chanyeol grew up luxuriously with his family's wealth, but dating Kyungsoo had made him less materialistic and a smaller house was an easy compromise. 

Kyungsoo looked so adorable sleeping in the passenger seat, he was leaning on the seatbelt and it was squishing his cheek in a way that made him look so soft and huggable and ugh. Chanyeol couldn't kiss him. 

"Hey," Chanyeol said, resisting the urge to caress Kyungsoo's face, "We're here." 

Kyungsoo stirred and looked at Chanyeol, the sleepy expression was even more adorable, Chanyeol had missed waking up next to that face. 

"Mmmkay." Kyungsoo said and trudged out of his side of the car. He stopped and looked at the house. His eyes widening but he remained speechless. 

Chanyeol decided to leave it for now and walked to the front door, Kyungsoo behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kyungsoo absorbing everything, the succulents and rocks that lined the path to the doorway and the fir tree that stood in the middle of the front yard.

When they walked in Kyungsoo took in even more. The living room was to the left, a typical setup of couches and a television with the bonus of a fireplace, set of guitars and piano that graced the wall on the far side. The kitchen was to the right and boasted sleek marble countertops, oak wood cupboards, and stainless steel appliances, like how he requested for his cooking passion when they refurnished the kitchen. The dining room was behind the staircase but connected the kitchen and living room. 

"What do you think?" Chanyeol bit his lip as Kyungsoo still had an unreadable expression, maybe his tastes when he dated Jongin. 

"It's like my dream home." Kyungsoo remarked, his lips turning into that beautiful heart shaped smile that Chanyeol missed seeing. 

The reaction made Chanyeol smile as well. 

Maybe readjusting with Kyungsoo was going to be easy.

~~~~~

Readjusting with Kyungsoo was difficult. 

Chanyeol should've seen it coming, Kyungsoo was a hard person to read and before Chanyeol could break his walls down, Kyungsoo was overanalytical and calculated his every move to make sure it'd be hard to uncover the person he was underneath.

Chanyeol had the revelation when the first night happened. 

Kyungsoo came out of the bathroom dressed in a simple blue pajama shirt and pants. Chanyeol had decided not to comment how Kyungsoo usually liked to sleep in his clothes instead. 

When Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol lying down under the blankets, scrolling through something on his phone. He froze. 

Chanyeol didn't miss the abrupt movement though and looked up to meet Kyungsoo's eyes, "Are you okay?" 

"Oh, it's nothing." But Kyungsoo's eyes were shifting between the bed, Chanyeol, and the door, it was easy to see what was going on in his head.

"Don't worry, I'll sleep in the guest room." Chanyeol said and got out of the bed.

"No you don't uh, you don't have to." Kyungsoo still looked conflicted. 

"It's okay, you should sleep here, maybe you'll remember something." Chanyeol assured him. Kyungsoo nodded back. 

"Okay. Um," Kyungsoo shifted on his feet. "Goodnight Chanyeol." 

"Goodnight Soo." Kyungsoo flinched. "Sorry I'll try not to use nicknames." 

Maybe some other time Chanyeol will tell Kyungsoo of how he also calls him Kyunggie and Dodoro and Ducky when they're together and even satan when he's in a teasing mood.

Kyungsoo looked down, ashamed. "I'm sorry for being like this." 

"It's okay, this will take time." Kyungsoo looked up and gave a tight lip smile. 

"Yeah, goodnight Chanyeol."

And maybe some other time Chanyeol will also tell Kyungsoo how Kyungsoo likes to call him Channie and Yeollie when they're together or how he likes to hit him and call him a dork when he does something 'idiotic'.

"Goodnight." Chanyeol left the bedroom. At least the guest bedroom only had a single bed, it helped fill the void that he wasn't used to having.

~~~

Chanyeol should be given a break though, it's hard to get rid of the past habits he had with his husband. 

Like a sense of privacy. 

"AHHHHHHHH!" Kyungsoo screamed as Chanyeol walked out of the bathroom after his shower, without his towel on. Kyungsoo was standing in their room in the midst of changing his well and his shirt was off. 

The given circumstances probably would've created a mature situation in any other scenario, but not when Kyungsoo was having a mental breakdown and cowering behind his t-shirt in his hands. 

"Your dick! ACK YOUR DICK! Where's your towel AHHHHHHH!" In any other scenario, Chanyeol would've also cooed at how cute Kyungsoo was acting. 

"I'm sorry!" Chanyeol grabbed a hand towel hanging by the doorway of the bathroom and covered himself, barely. "You were okay with this before, we'd change like this." 

"I'm sorry that I'm not used to your dick!" Kyungsoo screamed again and made a dash for their bedroom door, "Just put some clothes on!" 

Chanyeol frowned when Kyungsoo disappeared, great, now there was going to be an extra level of awkwardness from Kyungsoo.

Backhugging was also not allowed.

Chanyeol had to learn that one the hard way.

He had woken up to the delightful smell of something delicious wafting through his nose and realized that the only possibility was that Kyungsoo was cooking breakfast, something that used to be common before.

His thoughts rushed with excitement as he recognized the familiar smell of blueberry pancakes and bacon omelettes. .

** 

_"Mmm something smells good." Chanyeol said as he wrapped his arms around his husband's waist and rested his head on shoulder, feeling Kyungsoo's laugh rumble against his chest when he nuzzled his nose against his neck._

_"Stop it Yeol, that tickles! I'm trying to finish the last couple of pancakes." Kyungsoo said, trying to shake Chanyeol off rather weakly, a sure sign that Kyungsoo actually didn't want him to let go._

_"Noooo." Chanyeol whined, tightening his grip around Kyungsoo, "Let me stay Soo." And swayed him lightly to the soft sounds of the morning radio._

_Kyungsoo didn't reply to that and Chanyeol felt him lean back slightly into his embrace._

_The two basked in the moment for a while, until Kyungsoo had to get the pancake off the pan, and suddenly Chanyeol's long limbs became an issue because as Kyungsoo reached for the bowl of blueberry batter, Chanyeol's hand accidentally smacked it over, spilling the last bit of batter over the counter._

_Kyungsoo turned around to him with a glint in his eyes. "You just wasted the last pancake."_

_"I'm sorry satan!" Chanyeol stepped back and held his arms up defensively. "Don't murder me!" And before he could defend himself further, Kyungsoo had thrown some of the batter at him, smearing his cheek._

_"Take that!" Kyungsoo laughed out loud as Chanyeol retaliated and threw some of the batter back at him, specks of blueberry painting his cheek._

_After a storm of batter flying around, light hearted insults, and laughs going around the kitchen, Kyungsoo found himself pinned against the counter by Chanyeol, a mischievous smirk gracing his face._

_Kyungsoo feigned anger and frowned at him, "We still have to clean this up."_

_"Sure," Chanyeol cupped Kyungsoo's face, "Let's start with the batter on your lips." He leaned down to capture Kyungsoo's lips in his._

_Kyungsoo sighed into the kiss and automatically reached around to curl his arms around Chanyeol's neck, letting the wonderful taste of blueberry pancakes and mint dance between them._

_And when they broke apart, Chanyeol stole a final peck on Kyungsoo's cheek, swiping off the last of the batter._

_"Hmmmmm, needs more flour."_

_"You dork!"_

**

The beautiful memories that came with breakfast in the morning made Chanyeol irrational and he was already waltzing into the kitchen, silently fawning over seeing Kyungsoo in an apron. 

He snuck up on him and wrapped his arm's around Kyungsoo. 

"Mmmm, something - OW!" Something hard struck Chanyeol's head and he fell to the floor. 

"I'm sorry! I wasn't expecting you to do that!" Kyungsoo exclaimed, Chanyeol looked up and Kyungsoo was holding up the weapon, his spatula, and looking down at him guiltily. 

"It's fine." Chanyeol dusted himself off, "I'll just uh, go shower." 

Kyungsoo nodded, "Yeah, breakfast will be ready after." 

And after his shower and short massage on his head, Chanyeol tried not to show disappointment at the lack of a ketchup heart on the omelette or syrup heart on the pancakes, and if he did frown, Kyungsoo didn't mention it. 

~~~

"My head......" Chanyeol moaned in pain on a chair beside Baekhyun's desk, holding an ice pack to his head as Baekhyun was still laughing after hearing the cause of the injury. 

"Sucker~" Baekhyun teased, but he turned around and passed a paper towel to Chanyeol, "Put it under the ice pack or else you're going to freeze your head. How's things with Kyungsoo?" 

"Not improving at all." Chanyeol replied dejectedly. 

"You know, maybe he should start over." 

"What?" 

"He should come back to work for the company." 

"But why?" 

"God you're so dense sometimes, he met you when he worked in the accounting department here right? Maybe if he relived this part of his life he'll surely remember yet, or even better, he'll follow the same path you falling in love with you again!"

Chanyeol's hands clasped together loudly in agreement, "You're a genius!" Baekhyun smiled to himself and continue

"We should try to recreate the situation from the beginning then, same interviewer, same department, all that jazz." 

"Who gave him an interview in the first place? Was it you?" 

"No it wasn't, I think it was one of the department heads." 

"If Kyungsoo ended up in accounting, didn't the accounting department head do his interview then?" 

"You're right!" Chanyeol stood up from his seat, "Oh wait, Seohyun didn't do the interview." 

"Hey Baekhyun." One of their coworkers and friends, Junmyeon, appeared out of nowhere, "I just sent you the plans for our advertisement collaboration with Toyota, can you go over it with Taeho and make sure that I stayed within budget? And if you could do it today I kind of need it by 4pm" 

Baekhyun quirked his eyebrow at Junmyeon. Automatically Junmyeon grumbled, "Fine, I'll buy you sushi tomorrow." and walked away. 

"Always a pleasure doing business with your black credit card hyung!" Baekhyun called out to him as he left. 

"I have a black card too," Chanyeol pointed out.

"So you want to buy me food too? You're not as easy to persuade as Junmyeon thoug- WAIT!" Baekhyun leapt from his seat, "He got rich when you promoted him to department head!"

"But he's the department head of marketing and advertising?" Chanyeol was missing the point. 

"You're missing the point!" Exactly, just like Baekhyun said. "He was the head of the accounting department 6 years ago and then you transferred him 3 years ago, he was probably the one who gave Kyungsoo the interview."

Chanyeol's eyes widened, "You're right!" He sprang out of his seat and chased after Junmyeon. 

"Yo Junebug!" He watched Junmyeon visibly shudder and turn around.

"Never call me that again but what?" 

"I need you to interview Kyungsoo back for the company." Junmyeon gave him a surprised look.

"Oh yeah, how is he recovering anyways? But he wants to come back? Why?" Oh yeah, Baekhyun and Yoora were the only ones in the company that knew the extent of damage that Kyungsoo suffered. Chanyeol sighed and spilled the whole story to Junmyeon, he was a trustworthy man anyways. 

Junmyeon nodded in understanding as Chanyeol finished. 

"I'm sorry that this is happening and I will do it. But I have a confession," Junmyeon teetered on his feet, "I didn't really interview him." 

"What?" Chanyeol looked at him in confusion.

"I took him to a room, talked to him for like 15 minutes about life, then let him have the job. He was my junior in university okay! Don't fire me!" Junmyeon quickly said. Chanyeol let out a laugh.

"Since he became my husband, you're forgiven, but if you knew him in university, then do you know a Kim Jongin?" Junmyeon's eyes widened. 

"Yeah?" Chanyeol's face lit up, "and no." He frowned. "When I was with Kyungsoo in univerity, he was dating some guy named Jongin but I lost contact when I graduated and when he showed up here at the office, well they weren't together anymore." 

"And he didn't tell you anything about him?" Junmyeon shook his head.

"No, and I can barely remember his face, if something comes to mind I'll let you know okay?" Chanyeol nodded, "Now I'm off! Department head duties, text me more on Kyungsoo later." Junmyeon said and walked off. 

Hopefully Junmyeon will give him some information in the future. But first, being the younger brother that he was, Chanyeol was going to check in with Yoora about Kyungsoo coming back to work. 

~~

"Make sure those are deleted are else we're going to have an issue, and if I find out you didn't get rid of everything you're dead!" Yoora was berating someone on the phone when Chanyeol walked in, she was pretty scary when she had to be. 

"What happened this time." Chanyeol was used to his sister getting mad at people often, it was a side effect of her being heavily invested in the company.

"Oh pfft it was nothing that important." Yoora put the phone back on the receiver on her desk, knocking it slightly out of place. "Some stupid rumor articles that were trying to persuade Toyota to stop their collaboration with us." Chanyeol nodded in understanding, "Anyways, what brings you here? You haven't come up here in a while." 

"Is it okay if Kyungsoo comes back to the company? We're trying to replicate his life when he met me, maybe he'll remember something if he goes down the same route again." 

"Of course that's okay!" Yoora smiled at him, "You didn't need to tell me that, but is that really all?" Chanyeol suddenly remembered his sister's interaction with Kyungsoo. 

"I know you said you haven't met Kyungsoo before I met him, are you sure?" Yoora looked bewildered. 

"I thought we went over this, he probably just saw me in a business magazine." She said it with a hint of annoyance, accidentally hitting the phone and knocking it even more out of place, Chanyeol decided to back off.

"Sorry, I've just been trying to get any lead on his past."

"It's okay," The phone started ringing, "I have another thing to deal with."

"Yeah sure, I'll see you later." 

Chanyeol walked away from his sister's office with a newfound sense of hope, hopefully working at the office would reignite something in Kyungsoo.

~~~

"Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol was seated across the table from Kyungsoo eating breakfast while the other was reading the newspaper, something about tracking an illegal drug circle. 

"Hmm?" Kyungsoo looked up from the newspaper. 

"I was thinking about bringing you back to the company." Kyungsoo's head tilted to the side cutely in confusion for a moment, absorbing what Chanyeol said.

"Oh yeah, you said I used to work there." Kyungsoo set the newspaper down, "I'd love to, maybe I'll remember something." 

"But first, Baekhyun wanted to hang out with you." 

"Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo quirked an eyebrow. 

"I don't know if you remember him from the hospital, I know everything was a blur there, but you guys used to be best friends before the um," Chanyeol fiddled with the pancake under his fork. "Accident." 

"Oh...... I think I vaguely remember him." Kyungsoo said, "When does he want to come?" 

"You guys used to have weekly game nights, he was hoping he could come over tonight if that's okay with you." 

"Yeah I'm okay with it." 

"Thanks for giving him a chance." Chanyeol smiled at Kyungsoo. 

"It's the least I can do if you say we had a friendship and," Kyungsoo smiled back, "If I'm trying with you I'll try with him." His smile blossomed into that beautiful heart shape once again.

Chanyeol felt his heart get fuzzy for a while.

"

Baekhyun had come over that night for game night, confident in his texts with Chanyeol that he could reestablish his friendship with Kyungsoo. 

But texts don't show feelings. 

And it was saying a lot when Baekhyun started shifting uncomfortably as Kyungsoo once again didn't react to one of his snarky comments about property taxes. 

The trio were seated in the living room, playing monopoly as Baekhyun had suggested before that it was like an offline mario party, ruin friendships so hard that you end up making them stronger. 

Times when they played monopoly before consisted of comical arguments between the trio depending on who was winning, with Kyungsoo usually counteracting Baekhyun's snide remarks with an even more devastating comment. And occasional attempts to murder Baekhyun across the table when the teasing got too far. 

"Mwahahaha! You're going to jail Kyungsoo, get ready for your stocks to plummet!" 

But here Kyungsoo was, looking at Baekhyun blankly. Chanyeol scratched his neck nervously, this was the umpteenth comment 25 minutes into the game and Baekhyun was getting nowhere with Kyungsoo. 

Game nights tended to last until at least 1 or 2 am, but here Baekhyun was, helping clean up and getting ready to leave and it was only 10:30. 

Kyungsoo had already disappeared from the living room.

"It's best to keep the first night short, I don't want to blow him up with too much fun." Baekhyun tried to joke. 

"It's okay Baekhyun, I'll figure out why he was like that, that was a weird reaction from him." Chanyeol said, Baekhyun gave him a tight smile and slipped his jacket on. 

"Thanks, I'll see you at the office tomorrow?" 

"Yeah, bye Baek." And there Baekhyun was again, walking away with dejected slumped shoulders. Chanyeol felt bad for him. 

Kyungsoo was sitting at the top of the stairs when Chanyeol came upstairs, he was frowning. 

"I'm sorry that I made tonight awkward." Kyungsoo said when Chanyeol sat beside him, maintaining a gap between them. 

"It's okay, I'm sure Baekhyun's personality is something hard to get used to." 

"Minseok wasn't like that." Kyungsoo muttered as he looked down.

"What was Minseok like?" Chanyeol asked.

"He's like me and we got along well because of that, he also doted on me because I'm younger than him but it wasn't an over energized ball of energy like Baekhyun. I'm not even sure how I became best friends with someone with that attitude. Ugh," Kyungsoo gripped his hair in frustration, "I'm sorry, now I sound like a jerk." 

That confused Chanyeol because even though he didn't know Kyungsoo the moment he started working, he had heard that he hit it off with Baekhyun right away at the office. Something must have happened for him to think differently. 

"And I don't even know where Minseok is, I was trying to go through Facebook earlier but I can't find him. I couldn't even find Jongin either. I just want to see him again." Kyungsoo's voice broke on the last sentence. Chanyeol looked up and Kyungsoo was wiping a tear away from his eye. 

"I-i'm sorry, I shouldn't be feeling like this, g-good night." Kyungsoo ran to his room and shut the door. 

Chanyeol stayed up late that night, listening to Kyungsoo's quiet sniffles in the silence of the night. 

Kyungsoo felt bad for still being in love with Jongin and even if it hurt Chanyeol, who was he to blame Kyungsoo? 

Chanyeol was determined to at least locate Minseok, for Kyungsoo's sake. But what if Jongin came back into the picture? Even if he may have done something bad to Kyungsoo, what if Kyungsoo still runs back to him? 

Chanyeol fell asleep with his eyes wet. 

_**I don't understand this strange day, I want to ask why you act this way? Do you still love me?............ I live with my heart in pain. it's completely unfair, I can't stand it.** _

__

_**Please come back to me.....** _

__

_**Bolbbalgan4 - Hard to Love** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I STILL CAN'T GET OVER THE PANCAKE SCENE, Idc if you didn't like it I thought it was super cute and I'm gonna give myself a pat on the back for that one.
> 
> But other than that, I'm aware this chapter was an emotional rollercoaster, and I hope there was a pleasant mixture of angst, fluff, humor, and mystery ooooooooo.
> 
> 100% the next chapter will start with Kyungsoo starting work in the office. 
> 
> Please share your thoughts in the comments <3 (Also if you catch a mistake please tell me)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A good amount of flashbacks, you've been warned xD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went on vacation out of town for a few days oops ;3
> 
> It's almost 4am JESUS I WILL EDIT THIS WHEN I WAKE UP LATER.
> 
> Warning, possible inaccuracies with accounting lmfao.
> 
> Enjoy~

_"Look Jongin a shooting star!"_ _Kyungsoo and Jongin were sitting on a picnic blanket under the night sky stargazing, when the rare phenomenon passed them._

_"It's beautiful," Jongin's grip around Kyungsoo grew tighter, he was backhugging Kyungsoo with his legs also wrapped around Kyungsoo on the blanket. "Have you made your wish?_

_Kyungsoo looked back at Jongin. "Did you wish too?"_

_"I did, I wished to spend the rest of my life with you." Kyungsoo pouted._

_"You're not supposed to say it, now it's not going to come true." Jongin chuckled softly, resting his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder._

_"That's a myth, and besides, I know you wished for the same thing too." Kyungsoo smiled._

_'I did."_

..

"Kyungsoo wake up." A voice called softly behind the door.

**Knock knock!**

Kyungsoo jolted awake, feeling a dull headache in the back of his head. 

"Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol opened the door slowly and smiled at Kyungsoo. "Ready for your first day?" 

"Mmmmm." Kyungsoo sort of groaned out, he was still trying to gain full consciousness. 

"Haha alright, I made breakfast for us, come down when you're ready." Chanyeol closed the door and Kyungsoo tried to shake away the pain from his head, Chanyeol told him that he still had to go through an interview and he didn't want to make the wrong first impression. 

When Kyungsoo went into the shower, he tried to focus on the dream he woke up on, reflecting on the old memory he had. 

He always loved those simple nights with Jongin, where they would sit under the stars for an eternity. Did he share those same kind of nights with Chanyeol?

The water grew cold too fast for Kyungsoo and he had to quickly finish up, the dull headache still taking over his thought process. 

He took an advil before going downstairs to Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol had made french toast and sausages, from what Kyungsoo saw on his plate. But he had no idea what Chanyeol was eating, the other was eating a sausage but there was also a black brick on his plate. 

"What are you eating?" Kyungsoo asked as he sat down. 

"Breakfast." Chanyeol replied. The rather stupid answer drew a quiet laugh from Kyungsoo.

"No, that doesn't look like food." Kyungsoo pointed at the black brick on Chanyeol's plate. 

"I was trying to be fancy with the french toast," Chanyeol said, "I sort of messed up the first one and burnt it," He smiled sheepishly, "But I managed to do the second one, I'm just eating the failed attempt." 

Kyungsoo looked down at his french toast again, there was a heart shape caramelized by sugar, and even though one of the sides were lopsided, it still looked right. 

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at Chanyeol, "How did you burn french toast?"

Chanyeol looked down, "Accidentally put the heat on high and started dancing to the radio." Kyungsoo almost wanted to protest and switch their plates, but then Chanyeol picked up the black brick and took a bite out of it. 

Inspite of the glare Kyungsoo was giving him when he cringed at the taste, Chanyeol still gave him a wide smile.

The action was cute and a little bit touching, making Kyungsoo smile back. 

``` 

Kyungsoo had tried sleeping away the headache on the drive to the company. He wanted to insist going there by his own means aka public transit but he didn't have the power to fight Chanyeol if Chanyeol was going to persist on driving him. 

The headache seemed to disappear when Chanyeol gently shook him awake in the parking lot, and any feeling of grogginess disappeared when he finally saw a familiar face inside the office.

"Junmyeon hyung!" Kyungsoo called out happily to Junmyeon, who was standing by the receptionists desk, "I haven't seen you in a long time!" 

Junmyeon returned the smile, "I'm glad to see you again." 

"Kyungsoo, Junmyeon is just going to do an interview with you and then he'll show you around, okay?" Kyungsoo nodded, brimming with excitement at seeing Junmyeon again.

Kyungsoo watched Chanyeol whisper something into Junmyeon's ears before he patted him on the shoulder and walked away. Junmyeon turned to Kyungsoo and gestured him into the office.

"How have you been?" Junmyeon asked.

"I think I've been okay." 

"That sounds good, I'm not really going to interview you since you already have the job" Junmyeon said while sitting down, "I never interviewed you the first time you applied, we had just talked about life so," Junmyeon patted the sides of his chair, prompting Kyungsoo to side down across from me, "Catch me up Kyungsoo, how have you been?" 

"I'm not sure what I can talk about...." Kyungsoo didn't know if he could talk about his past.

Junmyeon smiled warmly "Anything. You know, like that time in university when you bribed the business law professor to extend your paper deadline by two days with two trays of his favorite raisin bran muffins."

"We don't speak of that," Kyungsoo glared at him, "That was the only time I would do that." 

Regardless, feeling comfortable around his senior, Kyungsoo launched into a winding discussion of his life. He almost prattled on about his relationship with Jongin, knowing that Junmyeon knew about them in the past, but he had stopped himself from venturing on the topic when he realized how inappropriate it was.

He instead talked about his life in university, a couple details making Junmyeon quirk his eyebrow up. When Kyungsoo paused to take a drink of water, Junmyeon quickly scribbled onto a sticky note on his clipboard

_Mention this to Chanyeol later_

..

"I used to be the head for the accounting department, but I've moved to marketing and advertising instead but here I'll show you around."

After their 'interview', the duo walked around the department, Junmyeon pointing to various stations dotted with printers and cubicles and filled Kyungsoo in on who and how each place in the department worked. 

The staff were fortunately not informed about Kyungsoo's condition but unfortunately, all of them were trying to talk to him throughout the office. After watching Kyungsoo have another awkward exchange with the fifth coworker, Junmyeon tried to direct his attention to something else. 

"Oh look! This is where you and Baekhyun used to drink coffee all the time," Junmyeon gestured to a balcony dotted with artificial plants, "I had to tell you both to get back to work countless times." 

Kyungsoo's demeanor became wary when he mentioned Baekhyun, Junmyeon internally regretted bringing up Baekhyun and continued the tour. 

When they reached Kyungsoo's desk, Junmyeon motioned to a stack of papers on it.

"For starters, the every employee goes through the same project to get settled, it was the project that placed Park Corporations into the #1 spot in the country 6 years ago, and the employee goes through it according to their department." Junmyeon said.

"Since this is the accounting department, you'll recreate the budgeting report that was used for the project." Kyungsoo nodded in understanding. But the headline of the paper stood out to him. 

**The Jirisan National Park and Lotte World Project**

_Huh, that looks familiar_

"If you have any questions, ask Baekhyun." Baekhyun was seated in the cubicle beside Kyungsoo's. He was typing furiously, he must be working hard on a report. Wait, nevermind, he was gossiping on twitter. 

"Baekhyun." Junmyeon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, Baekhyun swirled around on his seat, unfazed that he was caught. "Did you finish the-" 

"Yup." Baekhyun gave him a sly smile but gave Kyungsoo a shy smile. 

There was still unsettling air between the two, after Baekhyun's failed attempts on their games night, he seemed to be treading water near Kyungsoo, his face didn't even have to show it, Kyungsoo could feel it. 

"Baekhyun's one of the fastest in the department, he knows he would be promoted if he just didn't," Junmyeon pointed to all the social media and solitaire tabs open on Baekhyun's computer. "Do that."

Baekhyun waved him off, "Whatever. Go run off, I know you have a meeting soon." 

Junmyeon shook his head, "You're way too on top of everything, maybe in a different life you'd be my assistant. Anyways, I shall take my leave." Junmyeon walked away from the duo. 

Baekhyun turned back to Kyungsoo, trying to be friendly, "That project was huge, I'm sure something won't make sense if you want me to clarify it." 

"I won't need your help," Kyungsoo replied curtly, "But thanks." He hid away in his cubicle, not sparing Baekhyun another glance. 

Baekhyun sighed, "Baby steps Baek." 

~~~

"I got him to talk about his past life." Junmyeon said to Chanyeol, they were inside Chanyeol's office. Chanyeol perked up. 

"Oh? Did he say anything interesting?" Junmyeon scratched the back of his head in thought. 

"He avoided talking about Jongin of course," Chanyeol frowned, "But have you ever looked at his credentials?" 

"No, why?" Chanyeol said.

"That's the thing," Junmyeon took a sip of his coffee. "He said his major was culinary arts and his minor's in music. I think the business and accounting classes we took together were his electives. But at the same time I don't understand why his "

"What?" Chanyeol's stare at Junmyeon intensified, eyes squinting with confusion "How did he get called in for an interview 6 years ago?" 

"I'm not sure, I'll have someone locate his old application." Junmyeon tossed his empty styrofoam cup into the trash, "Anyways, we have a meeting with your sister and all the department heads and supervisors, shall we go?" 

Chanyeol shook his head out of it and stood up, "Yeah sure." 

~

The meeting was going as Chanyeol expected, it was just touching bases with all of the other departments to make sure preparations for the huge project were going as expected. 

After every department had reported back with results that were meeting Yoora's standards, a look of satisfaction washed over her and she looked around the room once more. 

"Any questions before we stop this meeting." Taeyeon, one of the supervisors for marketing and advertising, spoke up. 

"We don't even own the land yet and we've been acting like we're for sure going to obtain it, what happens if we don't?" Taeyeon asked. Yoora replied swiftly

"I have no doubts that we'll get that land, it's abandoned and full of incomplete buildings, I don't even know why the owner of it hasn't sold the land yet. Don't worry about it, I can get it to work." Taeyeon nodded at the response. 

"If we don't have the land yet then why do we have a deadline for it?" Junmyeon piped up from beside Chanyeol. 

"There's been a rumor floating around all the CEOs," Yoora said, a few murmurs started among the employees before Yoora's voice cut through them again."Which I can't discuss but what's important is that," Yoora glanced at the stack of papers on the table. "We have 100 days left to finalize it."

Yoora picked up the papers in front of her, "Since there doesn't seem to be any important questions, this meeting is over. If you have a concern please go to Chanyeol first before me." With that, everyone stood up and was already making their way out of the room. 

"You know," Junmyeon said to Chanyeol when they walked out. "You know how I said that I didn't really interview Kyungsoo before?" 

"Yeah, what about it?" Junmyeon looked back at the closed meeting room before speaking again.

"Your sister had found out somehow, she almost killed me for being 'unprofessional'. I swear if I wasn't that close to you she would've fired me." Chanyeol smiled. 

"I'm glad you survived that, my sister's such a perfectionist I swear it's gonna kill her." His smile grew into a smirk, "I guess you owe me lunch for that one. I hope your credit card is ready for some steak."

Junmyeon groaned. 

"Fine."

**

It's been 30 minutes.

30 minutes too long for Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo hadn't made a noise in the last 30 minutes, which he normally doesn't anyways, but Baekhyun was given less work to do that day in order to help Kyungsoo. There's only so much he can scroll through his social media timelines before he's caught up on everything. 

So another successful game of solitaire later, Baekhyun peeked over the cubicle wall dividing him and Kyungsoo. 

He expected Kyungsoo to have at least the first page of the report done. When Kyungsoo had first started at the office, he had adapted easily and was more hard working than Baekhyun, even if Baekhyun always finished faster. 

But this was the not the Kyungsoo he had first met, this Kyungsoo was being a mess. 

Papers of the project proposal were strewn across the desk and after listening more closely, Baekhyun could hear Kyungsoo mutter random strings of numbers as he kept scanning the pages laid out in front of him, clearly trying to make sense of everything. 

Kyungsoo hadn't even written anything out.

"Need help now?" Baekhyun tried to hold back a playful smirk when Kyungsoo glanced up at him, he had to remind himself to hold down the playful nature. 

Kyungsoo eyes widened, like a deer caught in headlights and he scrambled to gather all the papers into a neat pile together. 

"No I don't." Kyungsoo glared at him and went back to flipping through the now straightened papers. Even though he tried to appear more professional, his fingers were trembling. 

"Oh come on," Baekhyun scooted his chair over beside Kyungsoo, "I know you don't like help but at least let me show you where to start." 

Kyungsoo still held a glare at Baekhyun but Baekhyun could see his gaze soften slightly and he knew Kyungsoo was going to give in, the perks of being best friends with him for so long. 

"Fine," Kyungsoo tried to hold up the facade, "Only show me where to start, only that." 

Baekhyun smiled and leaned over Kyungsoo, "Here look." 

He flipped to the third page, "You have to cross check the proposals for the land claims between pages 3-10. Make sure their proposed budgets actually fit within budgets. Only one of those proposals were accepted because it fit. And then coordinate it with the country's laws on land taxes and calculate how much tax the company would have to pay for the land based on various different possible income outcomes." 

Kyungsoo looked at the numbers Baekhyun were pointing at. "That much for the land?" 

"Yeah I know it was a lot, it was the Jirisan National Park after all." Kyungsoo suddenly groaned in pain and held his head. "Woah," Baekhyun burst out of his chair and knelt down to Kyungsoo's level. "Are you okay?" 

Kyungsoo shooed him away, "Yeah I'm fine. And," Kyungsoo looked away, "Thanks I guess." He mumbled.

Baekhyun grinned, "You're welcome~~" He sang out and swirled his chair back into his cubicle. 

He did a tiny fist pump when he was sure he was out of sight. 

Baby steps.

~~

"So, how did you like work?" 

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were eating dinner in their kitchen, Chanyeol had forced Kyungsoo to go rest, easily catching his slight discomfort from his ongoing headache. 

So Chanyeol had made dinner, and it bewildered Kyungsoo that his serving of bulgogi actually looked delicious while Chanyeol had burnt pieces on his. Chanyeol wasn't complaining though, shoveling another piece with a bite of rice as he awaited Kyungsoo to answer his question.

"How did you only burn half the batch of meat?" Chanyeol shrugged. 

"Um, turned on the radio and danced again, the smoke alarm caught my attention this time so I managed to save half of it." Kyungsoo shook his head.

"You're ridiculous." Chanyeol smiled sheepishly. 

"But how was work?" 

"Hmmmm," Kyungsoo poked at the food on his plate, "It was okay." 

"Did you remember anything." Kyungsoo looked up, Chanyeol looked eager, like he expected the familiar environment to immediately help Kyungsoo. 

"No." Chanyeol deflated. 

"It's okay, it'll just take time." Chanyeol stopped talking after that, instead going back to enjoying his burnt food.

"Hey, Chanyeol?" Chanyeol looked up, a speck of rice on his lip. His genuine look of worry made Kyungsoo look down and stab his meat a bit too forcefully. 

"Ummm, how did we meet?" 

"Oh, well..."

~~

_"Yoora calm down." Chanyeol's sister had her hands in her hair, tugging them with stress._

_"I can't! Our insider information got leaked again and we already lost two proposals to other companies this week!" She kicked her desk in frustration._

_"Okay, look, I'll go check with accounting to see how this affects us, but I'm sure it won't have a negative impact, we hadn't even spent that much yet."_

_"Just go!" Yoora shooed Chanyeol out of her office._

_In his rush to locate Junmyeon on the accounting floor, he failed to notice someone speeding out from the side._

_A small figure crashed into him and fell to the floor with an "oof", papers in his hand flying around._

_"I'm sorry!" Chanyeol bent down quickly, grabbing all the papers and handing them towards the other person. When he finally got a good look at him he stopped his jaw from dropping in shock._

_The shorter male had large doe eyes, heart shaped lips, and a button nose that made him look so cute and wow he was really adorable and holy shit Chanyeol should get to know him._

_But he didn't because the shorter guy said_ _"It's okay." before grabbing the papers from Chanyeol and practically running away around the corner._

_"Hey Chanyeol." Junmyeon had taken the moment to make himself known, "Saw you take a spill with Kyungsoo."_

_"Kyungsoo?" Junmyeon nodded._

_"Yeah, the one with the big eyes. He's new actually, just started less than a month ago. Anyways what's up? You haven't dropped by here in a while." Chanyeol stared back at the direction Kyungsoo had run off in._

_Hopefully Kyungsoo was single._

~~

"And then after a few more chance encounters, I flirted the heck out of you and eventually asked you out, but that's another story for a different chapter." 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, "The way you narrated that made it sound like a stupid k-drama. I don't think I'd ever be that unaware to crash into you." 

"But you were," Chanyeol pouted, "And we used to like watching stupid k-dramas like that on Wednesday nights." 

Kyungsoo quirked an eyebrow at him, "Oh really?" 

"Yes, the last drama we watched was Weightlifting Fairy, you actually liked it."

Kyungsoo laughed, "That title already sounds stupid, but alright," Kyungsoo placed some of his cooked pieces of bulgogi on Chanyeol's plate, switching it for a couple of the burnt ones. 

"Tell me about this 'stupid' drama'."

~~

Kyungsoo fell into a rhythm over the following week at work. 

Chanyeol never showed his face to Kyungsoo during his shift, Kyungsoo supposed that Chanyeol was trying to give him space where he could and he honestly appreciated it. 

It also helped that he could deal with less at the office because Baekhyun was already a handful. 

Baekhyun couldn't restrain his personality, and it irked Kyungsoo when his nose was buried in numbers and Baekhyun was swiveling up in his chair beside him, telling him a stupid story or trying to crack a joke. 

And after the most ridiculous story of Baekhyun getting into an argument over coffee with someone at Starbucks that same morning, Kyungsoo was dying to get the bottom of it.

"Alright Baekhyun," Kyungsoo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in annoyance. "How on earth did we become close in the first place?" 

"Well we started like this. My cubicle was across the other side of the office from yours and I bothered you a lot because I just wanted to be friends and then one day.."

~~

_"BYUN BAEKHYUN!" Kyungsoo screeched as he watched his papers, the papers he worked so hard to finish, get destroyed as a large wave of coffee washed over them, as well as the back of his shirt was dripping with coffee, courtesy of Baekhyun's freaking Starbucks._

_"Kyungsoo, I didn't mean to do it!" Baekhyun held his hands up in surrender, even a part of his sleeve was drenched in coffee. "I was coming up to you and I tripped."_

_"I don't care I'm going to kill you!" Before Kyungsoo could jump on Baekhyun and end him mortal kombat style, Junmyeon appeared in between the two of them._

_"Both of you come to my office, now."_

_~~_

_"_ Wait this sounds ridiculous." 

Baekhyun's smile grew eerily wide, "It gets better!"

~~

_Junmyeon closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance, "You too have a bizarre relationship. And it's honestly scaring some people in the office."_

_"His fault." Kyungsoo muttered and cocked his head to Baekhyun's side._

_"It doesn't matter who's fault this is, but we're going to solve this the traditional way."_

_"Does it involve killing?"_

_"Unfortunately no Kyungsoo, I'm just going to move your cubicles beside each other so you both learn to get along."_

_"No!"_

_"Yay!"_

~~

"And then," Baekhyun was growing more and more excited and it was becoming a bit too much to handle. 

"Stop," Kyungsoo held his hand up, "that's already a lot to digest."

Baekhyun nodded in understanding, "Okay," He leaned over, running his finger along the title of the page Kyungsoo was looking at. 

"I know you need help, you've been looking at this page for 20 minutes without doing anything." 

Kyungsoo grumbled, "Yeah I need help." 

Baekhyun's occasional aid (Kyungsoo won't admit that he used Baekhyun like a crutch) got Kyungsoo to finish up the report after a week, and right now he was trying to get Baekhyun to help him print it out. 

"There you go," Baekhyun clicked the print button and motioned for Kyungsoo to follow. They stopped at a printer around the corner. 

"The report should pop out any second." The printer made no sounds. 

"Any second now..." Still nothing. 

"Huh, let me go check it." Baekhyun disappeared and came back with a sheepish smile. 

"Uh, two things. I accidentally sent it to the printer on the floor above." 

Kyungsoo gave him a look, "That doesn't sound bad though." 

"I also may have printed 111 copies of the report by accident."

"You did not!" Kyungsoo was already rushing his way to the staircase, trying to be discrete as he maneuvered around marketing and advertising, finding the printer that already had pages of paper sprawled across the floor." 

"Shoot", Kyungsoo muttered under his breath, he would have to discard all of these copies before anyone caught him. 

He force stopped the printer, gathered all the papers and made a mad dash (speed walking inside a building of course) for the nearest recycling bin when all of a sudden, he collided with someone. 

"Ah!" Kyungsoo fell backwards, but a pair of arms caught him around his waist. In automatic response, he wrapped his arms around the person who caught him. 

"Oh... hi Chanyeol." Chanyeol had caught him, and he was looking at him intently, face laced with worry. 

"You okay?" Kyungsoo bit his lip and nodded timidly, he didn't want to be caught like this. But Chanyeol made no comment, releasing Kyungsoo from his hold and helping him pick up all the papers. 

"I'll see you later okay? Try not to crash into anyone else," Chanyeol chucked at Kyungsoo's frown and walked away. 

Kyungsoo ended up taking all the papers back to his desk, they were a mess and he needed to take out one report to hand in anyways.

"Perfect, now we just need to-" Baekhyun cut himself off as his elbow nudged Kyungsoo's thermos on his desk, and the two watched in slow horror as the thermos emptied it's contents all over the papers, rendering them useless. 

Kyungsoo groaned and buried his head in his hands.

~~~

"You look like you had a long day." Chanyeol noted as Kyungsoo crawled into the passenger seat. 

"I did." Kyungsoo said, sinking into his seat and trying to relax, "But I finally finished the first report." Chanyeol smiled, and held out a small cup of coffee to Kyungsoo. 

"That sounds great, but you're going to need to muster up a bit more energy, you have therapy today." 

~~~

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were seated on the 8th floor of the hospital, waiting patiently for Kyungsoo's name to get called.

The 10 minute wait had felt like an eternity to Kyungsoo, who was trying to fight sleep away, despite the sleep in his system. 

His body seemed torn between lying his head down on Chanyeol's shoulder and doing nothing. If Chanyeol noticed he wasn't making any moves to possibly make him uncomfortable. 

Finally Kyungsoo was called up, a female therapist smiling at him warmly from the doorway and they both stood up.

"Kyungsoo!" The duo turned around and someone dressed in scrubs was approaching them. 

Chanyeol figured that it was probably his surgeon from the accident. 

"I knew I could recognize that face anywhere, I was wondering how you were doing, it's been years since I saw you." 

Wait what? 

Before Kyungsoo could respond, something in the person's pockets started beeping and he gave them an apologetic look. 

"Sorry, duty calls, if you visit here again we should catch up!" He ran down the halls, leaving the two to let the abrupt interaction settle in. 

Kyungsoo's eyebrows were furrowed as he watched the doctor run down the halls.. That reaction didn't seem to fit with someone he was supposed to know before his memory loss. 

"Do you know him?" 

"No, but from the way he talked I guess I was supposed to." Kyungsoo shrugged. "I'll see you in a bit." He said and walked off with the therapist. 

"Excuse me," Chanyeol went up to a nearby receptionist, "Do you know the doctor that just ran down that hall? He was about this tall?" Chanyeol gestured with his arms. 

"You must be talking about Dr. Zhang, our hospital's most prized neurosurgeon. But he's our most prized because he can perform any kind of surgery. Did you want to schedule an appointment with him? He's booked for the next 2 months at least." 

Chanyeol shook his head, "No that won't be necessary, but thank you." Chanyeol walked off, trying to figure out how Dr. Zhang fit into Kyungsoo's life. 

If he knows Kyungsoo but Kyungsoo doesn't know him and if I know nothing about him. He must have something to do with that 10 month gap between Kyungsoo's engagement and his employment at the company. 

"Hmmmmm." Chanyeol muttered as he walked past a large frame plastered to the wall. He looked up to see the doctor's picture on the wall, smiling with a dimple on his cheek.

**Doctor of the month: Zhang Yixing**

"You." Chanyeol said in his imaginary conversation with the picture in front of him. 

"You know something that I need to know." 

**_You can pass me by because you forgot about me, but until you remember, I will wait for you._ **

****

**_Exo-CBX - For You_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW DR.ZHANG TELL US. 
> 
> I guess you're gonna have to wait D:
> 
> I hope I got the perfect mix on plot/fluff/flashbacks down, if that makes sense.
> 
> I can't tell if I have anything else to say, it's basically 4am I'm exhausted xD, I feel like I had something else to say but I totally forgot it so I'll add it back here later if I do. 
> 
> Please comment your thoughts/opinions, I love reading those~~ and if you notice a mistake PLEASE TELL ME (especially if it's plot related holy cow I took out a few things that I was going to save for later chapters, at least I hope I did O-o)
> 
> P.S: I wrote the first two chapters only listening to korean ballads but for this chapter I literally listened to any and everything. I wonder if that affected the writing in any way hmmmm.
> 
> P.P.S PLEASE TELL ME YOU ALL CAUGHT WHERE THE '100 DAYS' THING PLAYS INTO THIS STORY.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyungsoo thinks he's getting somewhere, but suddenly he's not and it jeopardizes his relationship with Chanyeol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS WILL BE THE ANGSTIEST CHAPTER FOR A WHILE, it only can go up from here.
> 
> July 31, 4am note: Also it's 4am and i've been awake for 22 hours JESUS excuse any mistakes.
> 
> Enjoy, find your tissues.

**D-95**

Chanyeol was washing the dishes. 

Kyungsoo didn't have to hear the water running to know it, the pop song playing loudly from the radio in the kitchen was indication enough that Chanyeol was in there. 

Kyungsoo was standing on their balcony, staring at the night sky with the door left slightly ajar to let Chanyeol's background music provide him with some ambient noise. 

The therapist had been pleasant to interact with, not really forcing Kyungsoo into something he wasn't comfortable with. She had promised him that the events in their sessions would remain private, even from Chanyeol, so when asked about his past, Kyungsoo was comfortable sharing the bits that had Jongin in it. 

The music from the kitchen had transitioned into a slower song. 

The slow steady introduction percussion, the light melody that slowly made its way into Kyungsoo's ear. He knows this song, he knows it by heart.

From the time he fell in love with Jongin. 

~~

_The difference between Kyungsoo's love story with Jongin and Chanyeol that only he would know is that unlike Chanyeol, he fell in love with Jongin at first sight._

_It was a chance encounter, literally._

_The university's music program's final project every semester was a performance with a randomly selected person for the year end concert._

_Since he had only taken it as a minor for singing, Kyungsoo wasn't surprised when he saw the name 'Kim Jongin' pasted beside his on the bulletin board and didn't know who he was._

_Retrieving the other's contact information from the bulletin board, he had found out through texts that Jongin was taking a minor in dancing and the duo agreed that Kyungsoo would play and sing something on the piano whilst Jongin danced, something more emotional for the audience._

_They planned to meet the following week._

_Kyungsoo was drawn to a slow song playing somewhere down the hall, with a steady percussion and light melody, accompanied by the light scuffing of shoes from someone dancing._

_Kyungsoo peeked his head in and was overwhelmed with emotion at the figure dancing in the mirror. Bronze skin, sharp features, and entrancing eyes prodded Kyungsoo;s heart as he poked his head further in._

_Suddenly, the dancer tripped and fell to the floor. Kyungsoo was by his side in a flash._

_"Are you okay?" The dancer looked up again with wide eyes, surprised that someone saw his fall. His handsome features suddenly morphed into a soft, cute smile that gave off 'giant teddy bear vibes'._

_"I'm fine, I'm Kim Jongin." Kyungsoo held out his hand as an introduction and as a way to help the guy up._

_"Do Kyungsoo." Jongin smirked and pulled Kyungsoo down as well, placing them in quite an intimate position considering that they had just met._

_"You're really cute." Jongin said and Kyungsoo blushed._

_"Well, I think you're cute too." And to Kyungsoo's surprised, Jongin's cheeks also turned pink and they both started bursting into laughter._

_And in that fateful room, the third room on the right side on the third floor of the music building, they had fallen in love._

~~

Kyungsoo smiled bittersweetly to himself, reveling in his past.

"I see you're enjoying the night sky." Chanyeol commented. He had somehow snuck up on Kyungsoo, he was probably too deep in thought. 

"Yeah, helps with thinking." Chanyeol leaned a little more on the guardrail. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chanyeol asked. 

"No....." Chanyeol didn't look offended at the response and made no moves to get closer to Kyungsoo. 

"That's okay. I have to coordinate a few things with the office heads so I'll be in the guest room if you need anything. Other then that, goodnight Kyungsoo." Chanyeol smiled warmly at Kyungsoo and left the balcony. 

Kyungsoo stayed the balcony for a while, thinking. 

He looked down at his cellphone in his hand, his phone was destroyed in the car crash and Chanyeol got him a new one, but the contacts were tragically lost. And even though Kyungsoo could remember Jongin and Minseok's number by heart, they both appeared to be _numbers no longer in use_ when Kyungsoo tried calling both of them.

But he just wanted answers, he needed someone from the past he remembers to confirm the past he doesn't remember. Trying to scroll through his options, Kyungsoo lit up when another option came to mind.

Hmmm, tomorrow's Saturday. Kyungsoo pulled up the phone app, he didn't want to ask Chanyeol about it, he didn't want to seem rude. 

He dialed a number and held it to his ear. 

_**"Hello?"** _

"Hi Junmyeon hyung." 

~~

Chanyeol hadn't actually done any office work that night, he was figuring out how to meet Dr. Zhang again. 

But the receptionist was really not giving him a chance. 

"He has no free spots for the next 2 months you'll have to wait that long if you want to meet with him."

"Calling again will not change the fact that his next 2 months are booked." 

"Sir if you call again I am going to have your number blocked."

Chanyeol grumbled and kept scrolling through websites, trying to figure out how to dodge the long wait time. It seemed impossible to get through to a doctor who was so renowned and even if Chanyeol could probably use his money to somehow get to him, he didn't want to impede on dozens of people who actually would need his help. 

"Just one more website.............."

*

Chanyeol woke up the next morning fairly late, his phone read 10:30 am and his dead laptop on his lap showed that he had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the night. 

He lazily freshened up and went to the kitchen, only to spot a single plate of blueberry waffles and bacon on the table.

The bacon was arranged into a smiley face on the top pancake and Chanyeol laughed a little at it. He saw a note placed beside the plate. 

_Sorry that I left, I went out with Junmyeon for a bit, I'll be back before dinner 🙂_

~~ 

Around 10 am, Kyungsoo had made his way into Junmyeon's car. He was humming a happy little tune that made Junmyeon smile at him. 

"Looks like you're in a good mood." He said. 

"I just have a good feeling about today, thanks so much for driving since I can't drive for now because of this." Kyungsoo pointed at his head. 

"Anything for my favorite junior in university, where did you want to go?" Junmyeon asked. 

Kyungsoo grabbed the GPS off of Junmyeon's dash and typed in an address. When he put it back, Junmyeon saw the destination was a couple hours away, away from the city. He turned to Kyungsoo with a questioning look but didn't say anything. Kyungsoo smiled guiltily and Junmyeon shrugged, he wasn't going to ask questions. 

It probably had something to do with Kyungsoo's memory and if it would help him, then he'll do it for Kyungsoo and Chanyeol's sake. 

Junmyeon put on a soft driving playlist and then they were on their way. Kyungsoo couldn't help but smile to himself as the car drove through the city, thinking about his past. 

~~

_"Kyungsoo?" Kyungsoo looked up from his spot on the stool where he was cleaning the fences for the cattle field. His mother was standing behind him._

_"Yeah Umma?" His mother handed him an envelope._

_"I know you haven't been happy lately, not just after your father died Kyungsoo." She sat on the fence. "And I always hear you sing at night, I know you're trying out dishes in the kitchen. I know you want to go out there into the world."_

_Kyungsoo frowned, "No I don't, I want to stay and help you on the ranch."_

_"You're lying," Before Kyungsoo could protest she smiled, "I know best."_

_She pulled out some papers from behind her, "Also, I know you've been looking at universities in Seoul."_

_"No I haven't, those must have ended up in my bag from one of my classmates." Kyungsoo said._

_"Don't be so stubborn, you graduate high school in a year Kyungsoo, you should go chase your dreams." She pointed at the envelope._

_"Take it, it's your early graduation present." Kyungsoo carefully opened the envelope, his vision blurring as dozens of 100$ bills came into his view. (Way too lazy for won conversion)_

_"You better save that for university."_

_"But Umma, you're going to be alone." Kyungsoo stuttered out._

_"Don't worry about me, we're not stranded we have neighbors," She laughed at her own comment, "And I could always hire helpers if I needed it." She gestured for Kyungsoo to stand and she pulled him into a hug._

_"Now stop crying, I don't like seeing you cry." But Kyungsoo could only cry harder into his mom's shoulder._

_"Thank you."_

~~

Kyungsoo and Junmyeon stopped over for lunch for a while at some random Italian restaurant before they would continue on their trip. Kyungsoo having Junmyeon fill him in on randomly new tidbits of information around the world. 

He decided he heard enough after hearing about some chaotic, orange skinned lunatic that was running the United States and the two got back into the car and kept driving. 

~~

_"I'm going to miss you Umma," Kyungsoo said to his mom when they finished loading his dad's old pick up truck, he was going to head off to university in Seoul._

_"Now, you better visit often." She said._

_"Why can't you at least get a landline so I can call the house?" Kyungsoo asked._

_"Because I hate technology!" She declared, sending Kyungsoo into a fit of giggles. She was never against Kyungsoo having technology though, he got an affordable cell phone and laptop when he was in high school, she just hated it for herself. Especially after Kyungsoo's dad died, she didn't find a need for it._

_"Okay I got it old lady, I'll make sure I visit you a-lot." Kyungsoo said._

_"That's my boy, now shoo, you're going to be late for orientation." She ushered him into the car. "I'll see you when I see you." Her voice was wavering._

_"I'll see you when I see you," Kyungsoo replied back. They both stared at each other for a few moments._

_"Go! Don't make me hold you back!" Kyungsoo already knew that she didn't want him to see her cry so he closed his car door, waving at her._

_He could see her crying already in his side mirror, he turned back at her, gave her a tearful smile, and drove off._

~~

When they pulled up to the destination, confirmed by the GPS's announcement and Kyungsoo's restlessness. Junmyeon was sure he's never seen this place before.

The ranch was fairly large, home to a generous amount of cattle and sheep. There was a beautiful garden decorating the front lawn and Junmyeon could see a lake somewhere off behind the house.

He parked the car by one of the wooden fences "This place is nice, who's is it?" Kyungsoo unbuckled his seatbelt and smiled at Junmyeon. "It's my parents ranch, I'm gonna visit my mom." 

Junmyeon's eyes widened, he tried to reach out to stop Kyungsoo, "Wait..." Kyungsoo didn't seem to notice and kept rambling as he stepped out of the car with excitement.

"It's been so hectic the last while that I forgot to get in touch with her. She'll probably have the answers I'm looking for, and she'll be so excited to see me! I know living alone was tough for her after my dad died and when I was in university I didn't get to visit her often." Kyungsoo was waltzing up to the front door. Junmyeon desperately trying to get him to stop in a discrete fashion.

"Okay, Kyungsoo, you got this." Kyungsoo gave himself a pep talk before knocking on the door. 

"Wait, Kyungsoo," Kyungsoo turned back to Junmyeon. 

"Didn't Chanyeol tell you?" Junmyeon said.

"Tell me what?" Kyungsoo asked?

There's something you should know..." But before Junmyeon could keep going, the door opened to reveal a middle aged woman. 

Kyungsoo and the woman shared a brief look of confusion before Kyungsoo spoke. 

"Are you one of my mom's friends? One of the neighbors?" Kyungsoo asked

"Your mom?" The confusion on the woman's face became more intense. "Are you looking for the previous owner? I only moved into this place a few months ago but I heard the previous owner died a few years ago." 

And there it was. Junmyeon internally winced at the statement and looked at Kyungsoo, trying to gauge his reaction. 

Kyungsoo looked like he had died on the spot, staring blankly into space, dead expression on his face.

"You're lying, she was strong and healthy the last time I saw her." Kyungsoo argued, the owner took sense of the situation and had pity for Kyungsoo.

"Come inside, I'll tell you about it." 

~ ** _If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses. Sink me in the river at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song~~_**

"She died on our lake." Kyungsoo muttered. "3 years ago....."

He and Junmyeon were sitting on the grass by the lake now after the talk with the owner. She said that from neighbor accounts, Mrs. Do was fishing in the middle of the lake when the old boat must've worn itself down and gave in, they had found her body 3 days later. 

The owner let them stay on the property and visit as often they'd like, understanding the situation even more after Junmyeon talked to her briefly in private.

They had been sitting on the lake for over an hour and Kyungsoo still looked like he was trying to digest everything.

"Chanyeol didn't even tell me...." Kyungsoo sounded lifeless. Junmyeon bit his lip, he's never experienced Kyungsoo dealing with something negative, he knew those cases used to go to Jongin, Minseok, or more recently before the accident, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. "Why didn't he tell me........" 

"Kyungsoo look," Jumyeon reached out to put his hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder but Kyungsoo shoved him away.

"Don't drive me home." Junmyeon was taken aback. 

"What?" 

"I'll take a taxi......" Kyungsoo said soft but sharply. "And, I just want to be alone." 

Junmyeon withdrew his hand from Kyungsoo, "That's fine, if you really want me to, I'll go." 

"See you Monday," Kyungsoo muttered, gaze fixed on the lake. 

Junmyeon walked away, asking the new owner of the ranch to keep an eye on Kyungsoo and he got in his car. 

Should he tell Chanyeol what happened? Maybe not, if Chanyeol ends up creating some huge, overblown apology when Kyungsoo got home, he may not like that. He'll tell Chanyeol if Kyungsoo doesn't go home by tomorrow. 

When Kyungsoo heard Junmyeon drive away, he finally broke down. 

He screamed at the lake, screaming his angers upon deaf ears. 

~~

_"I'm so bored!" 10-year-old Kyungsoo exclaimed, his mother was sitting beside him on their fishing boat in the middle of the lake catching fish._

_"Shhh Kyungsoo, you'll scare away the fish." His mother said._

_"But I've been sitting here foreverrrrrrr, I wanna go play with the other kids." Kyungsoo pouted._

_"One more fish, Kyungsoo, and then we'll go back."_

_"Hmph fine." Kyungsoo managed to sit still for another 5 minutes, before he decided that he needed some entertainment. And with his only possible form of entertainment, he splashed some water at his mother._

_"Kyungsoo!" She shouted as water splashed her face, "Two can play at that game!" She splashed water back at Kyungsoo, earning an excited shriek from her son when he got wet._

_They started an epic splash battle in their boat, easily scaring all the fish away but leaving them wet and laughing._

~~

"Hey," The middle-aged woman, who Kyungsoo learned was named Sohee, was standing in front of him. She handed him a water bottle and a few tissues. 

"It's getting kind of late." The sun was setting, "And I called a taxi for you, your friend didn't want you to stay overnight." 

Kyungsoo stood up, "Yeah, um, is the taxi here yet?" He was still looking over the lake sadly. 

"Should be here any minute." Sohee said, "I'll wait with you at the front." 

They stood at the front silently, and when the taxi pulled up, Sohee patted Kyungsoo on the back. 

"Remember, you are always welcome here." Tears sprung in Kyungsoo's eyes again, and he gave her a tearful nod. Quietly saying the address to the taxi driver and resting his head on the window, Kyungsoo closed his eyes and tried to sleep the sadness away......

~~

Chanyeol tried to spend the day productively, he cleaned the house, went through his work emails, and even took a stroll around the neighborhood because he felt like he needed it. 

He had decided to cook one of Kyungsoo's favorite foods, spicy steamed squid, hoping that the other would appreciate the gesture after a long day of whatever he was doing. 

But as the sun started to set and Kyungsoo wasn't home yet, his phone seemed to be turned off, Chanyeol called up Baekhyun to come over to keep him company. 

Baekhyun had assured him that if anything bad did happen to Kyungsoo, Junmyeon would've told them, so after unsuccessfully keeping Baekhyun away from a portion of the squid and eating some dinner with him anyways, they shifted their focus to trying to uncover Minseok's whereabouts.

"You know," Baekhyun said, as he looked at something on his phone, "I was scrolling through my contacts earlier and stumbled on this.

Baekhyun held out his phone, showing a familiar yet unfamiliar set of digits from a phone number.

"Who's number is that?" Chanyeol asked.

"It's Minseok's." Chanyeol's eyes widened. 

"Wait! I have that too! How could I forget." Chanyeol scrolled through his contacts and pinpointed it. 

_Minseok_

If Chanyeol just took the time to think about it the last hectic couple of weeks, he would've remembered that he interacted with Minseok many times around the time he met Kyungsoo, he had even attended their wedding. This was easier than he thought, all he would need to do was call the number and get Minseok to come visit Kyungsoo. 

But when Chanyeol looked back up at Baekhyun, Baekhyun didn't look excited like he was. 

Chanyeol didn't even have to ask because Baekhyun answered for himself. 

"Honestly, I've been trying to get in touch with him ever since Kyungsoo got discharged, but he never answered and the operator kept saying the number isn't in use anymore." Baekhyun sighed, placing his phone down. 

If Chanyeol remembers correctly, Minseok did kind of disappear about a year after their wedding. But he didn't fully disappear, Chanyeol knew that he was still alive, he heard Kyungsoo talk to him on the phone every few weeks, but he can't remember where he moved and why. And Minseok wasn't alone, even from the moment they met, he had a boyfriend.

"Oh, doesn't he have a boyfriend?" Chanyeol asked. He'd seen him a couple of times too, struggling to put a name to the face in his mind. 

"I remembered him too, Kim Jongdae, also nothing. Did they move to Antarctica? Do they not live with signal?" Baekhyun joked, "This is worse than the time that Korea Telecom got hijacked and crashed for a week! That was tragic, not being able to use my data." 

In the middle of Baekhyun's rant, the front door suddenly jiggled, like someone was opening it with their keys. Chanyeol was eager to see Kyungsoo again, he had spent so long today worrying about his whereabouts, maybe they could spend tonight talking and Chanyeol could even get Kyungsoo to watch a drama with him. Or because Baekhyun was there they could have an impromptu games night. 

Except it wasn't going to be one of those nights. 

Kyungsoo had burst through the door, visibly fuming with tears running down his face. 

"Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol tried to approach Kyungsoo but Kyungsoo stepped back. "What's wrong?" 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chanyeol looked back at Baekhyun, trying to see if he had any answer to Kyungsoo's outburst. But Baekhyun was looking back at Chanyeol with wide eyes, surprised at how Kyungsoo was acting. 

"Tell you what?" Kyungsoo looked more pissed than sad. 

"That my mom's d-dead!" Kyungsoo sniffed and harshly wiped at some of his tears, leaving a red mark across his cheek. 

Chanyeol had forgotten to tell Kyungsoo that his mother had died 3 years ago from a boat accident. No offence to her but it was easy to forget now with how quickly Kyungsoo had been able to cope with it. He had moved on because of Chanyeol, but now, would it be so easy to move on?

Kyungsoo's knees gave out under him from the stress and he slowly collapsed to the floor, Chanyeol was able to get a steady grip on him before he fully fell down. 

"Everything's been so weird lately, I don't know what's right anymore," Kyungsoo's tone had grown soft, holding Chanyeol's forearms for support, some of his anger was turning into complete sadness. "I thought she would have the answers, I just want answers Chanyeol!" 

The physical contact burned into Chanyeol's skin, it was the closest they had gotten in the last couple of weeks and he just wanted to hold Kyungsoo and tell him it would be okay. 

"I want to know where Minseok is! He never answers the phone! I don't know what happened to Jongin!" Kyungsoo's voice kept cracking. "Is this place even home?" 

The last line struck Chanyeol's heart and he felt tears coming as he tried to will them down. 

"I'm sorry Kyungsoo." Chanyeol said, voice wavering, "I'm sorry that everything's been hell for you lately." 

It's been hell for me too. I'm sorry that I can't do anything to help you. 

"I just," Kyungsoo pushed himself off Chanyeol, "I'm gonna go to bed."

Chanyeol watched Kyungsoo stumble up the stairs because of his dwindling energy, he took a step forward but felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"Not now." Baekhyun said. "The fact we forgot to tell him that is only going to piss him off even more if you go try to talk to him again right now."

Baekhyun got Chanyeol to calm down somewhat and helped him clean up the kitchen before bidding him a heavy farewell, anxious about what would happen between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

Chanyeol lay wide awake in bed that night. Listening to Kyungsoo's sniffles, his heavy hiccups, and the sounds of various items moving around in the room. 

He could tell, Kyungsoo was searching, he was searching for his past in that room.

A past he wasn't going to find within those four walls because he had walked into Chanyeol's life with a clean slate. 

Forgetting to tell Kyungsoo about his mom was his first mistake, his second mistake, which was out of his control, was forgetting everything he had known about Jongin, information which could've helped Kyungsoo right now.

And Minseok seems to be out of contact. 

Chanyeol sighed, feeling the tears finally prickle on his cheeks.

Another drawer was opened, another soft cry of despair from Kyungsoo and Chanyeol's heart broke a little more. 

He needs the answers, he still needs to figure out how to reach Dr. Zhang.

And he needs to find Minseok. 

_**~~Your shy smile and gentle eyes, I want to hug you, what do I do? Now I can't loan you my shoulder to lean on~~** _

The next day was hard, because it was Sunday they were both home but Kyungsoo wasn't coming out of his room. And when it was nearing dinnertime and Kyungsoo still made no move to show himself to Chanyeol, Chanyeol had called up the only person who had any sort of access into Kyungsoo's walls. 

Junmyeon showed up with a sympathetic look on his face, he wasn't the type to berate Chanyeol for a careless mistake but the way he sighed when he looked away from Chanyeol spoke a thousand words. 

Chanyeol gave Junmyeon a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of ramen, urging him to get Kyungsoo to eat anything. 

Chanyeol also didn't try to stalk their conversation, but his ear was pressed to the door for an hour unable to make out the hushed whispers and inaudible tones beyond the door. 

He guiltily pulled away from the door when he heard Kyungsoo start crying again. Instead burying himself in his home office down the hall to work on the huge company project. 

Junmyeon appeared another two hours later, and Chanyeol realized he had done nothing, staring at his computer screensaver for the whole time period. 

"I got him to eat a bit," Junmyeon held up the tray, showing a half eaten sandwich and a nearly depleted bowl. "He's trying Chanyeol." Chanyeol nodded. 

"I know, and yet I'm the one that messed up." 

"It's okay, you're trying too." Junmyeon said, "I'm gonna put this in the kitchen then I'll head out. If neither of you come to work don't worry, don't even force yourself just because we have another meeting tomorrow, I'll catch you up, and it's your sister, she won't hate you." 

"I get it, thanks Myeon." Junmyeon waved and left the room, Chanyeol heard the front door shut after a couple of minutes. 

Despite the heavy weight in his chest, he still lugged himself downstairs to the kitchen to make dinner.

He didn't expect Kyungsoo to come down that night, and he welcomed the emptiness that came with eating jjajangmyeon alone at their kitchen table. 

He cleaned up and after staying idle in his home office for a few more hours, he got ready for bed. 

He passed by his and Kyungsoo's room and his hand unconsciously darted out to grab the doorknob, but he restrained himself last second. 

"Goodnight Kyungsoo." Chanyeol softly called out and he went back to his own room to spend another possibly sleepless and tearful night.

**~~**

Chanyeol did pull himself to work the next day. After all, he was basically the unofficial CEO and since no one knew about his current situation, he didn't want to set a bad example by not showing up to the meeting. 

"Kyungsoo, I'll go to work alone today okay? I'll see you later." He called out at the door, and left. 

~~

Junmyeon shot Chanyeol a worried look when he saw him walk in, but didn't mention anything when he sat down beside him. And with that, Yoora walked in and the meeting started.

"Okay guys I'm glad that we finished the first draft of the proposal and budget, we're now going to take a bit more of a hands on approach for the next step, I want the plots of land to be surveyed and someone needs to get into contact with the person selling the land." Yoora said after checking in and looking over the work of all the departments. 

"I'll send the requirements out to you each after the meeting and please distribute them within your departments accordingly, thank you and enjoy your Monday!" Yoora exclaimed and after everyone bowed to her, she left the room and they soon followed suit. 

"I thought I told you not to come in today." Junmyeon mentioned to Chanyeol.

"I know but I play a major role in this company, I don't want to be a bad role model." Chanyeol argued. Junmyeon frowned but let it go.

"Anyways, I already saw a bit of the assignments earlier, Yoora wants the accounting department to actually get a hold of the land owner and figure out how much they want to sell the land, and a lot of other things to do with demolition of existing properties and reconstructing the foundations for all the buildings we want." Junmyeon showed Chanyeol a picture of the assignment on his phone.

"I think Kyungsoo should do it, I talked to Seohyun already." Junmyeon said after.

"But I don't think he'll leave the house for a while, are you sure Yoora is okay with that?" Chanyeol asked.

"She won't kill me because she loves you." Junmyeon said. "And Baekhyun can help him, he'll do fine."

"Sounds like a plan." 

The rest of the Monday was kind of uneventful, Chanyeol was unmotivated to work, the only thing he did was carelessly scrolling through the accounting departments report on everyone's payroll.

He also talked about Baekhyun more locating Minseok or Jongdae, but after both being huddled over Baekhyun's laptop for an hour uncovering nothing, they had to call it a day. 

And the worst was coming home to a house that wasn't empty yet empty at the same time. Chanyeol could tell that Kyungsoo at least left the room, there was a discarded cup of ramen in the garbage can but other than that, there wasn't much activity. 

Chanyeol tried to gently open the door and to no avail, it was locked. Even though he had the room key, Chanyeol still felt wrong to intrude on Kyungsoo after feeling like he ruined everything. And that would lead to yet another sleepless and tearful night.

And by Wednesday night he was tired of it, he was mentally and physically drained and it was starting to show at work. 

Junmyeon and Baekhyun both encouraged him to leave work early when they caught him somehow dozing off, standing in his office doorway. When he drove home, he ended up falling asleep in his car in the driveway, and when he woke up to the sun setting, he knew he had to do something.

He fixed up a pot of Japanese style ramen, filled a bowl, and made his way upstairs.

"Time to pull yourself together Chanyeol, for you and Kyungsoo." Chanyeol said to himself as he trudged up the stairs, holding the ramen and his guitar, and he knocked on Kyungsoo's door. 

"Kyungsoo?" No response, which was expected, "Kyungsoo I'm coming in." Chanyeol unlocked the door with one hand and let himself in, the sight of the room breaking his heart. 

The room was a mess, items were scattered across the floor and tissues filled the garbage can sitting beside the bed, Kyungsoo was sitting on the side of the bed looking out the window, clutching an old picture of his and his mother to his chest. He didn't acknowledge Chanyeol's presence. 

"Kyungsoo....." Chanyeol was already crying as he called out his name again. 

Chanyeol set the bowl down on the dresser beside him and made his way to the bed, sitting on the opposite side so that they weren't facing each other. 

"Your mom, was the best mother I never had and she always looked out for you. We would visit her every thanksgiving, Easter, and summer and those weekends would be some of the happiest I've seen you all year." Chanyeol said. 

"You wanted to live in the city, but you always had a little bit of country in you. Whenever we went there, the three of us would take relaxing walks in the forest that was a 10 minute drive away from the house, we'd sing and chat with her around that little, rusted old wood burner she never cared to get rid of." 

"But I know your favorite thing to do with her was fishing in the lake. I always let you two do it alone and everytime, you'd both come back with one or two fish, wet and laughing." 

"When she died, and especially when you found out why, the first thing you did was go into our garage and break one of the fishing rods you'd use on our trips. And you almost broke the ukulele she made in our living room if I didn't stop you." 

"After that, you always said that she was watching you from heaven, and Kyungsoo, she still is."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Kyungsoo. I let someone as special as her be forgotten and it's ended up hurting both of us." Chanyeol positioned the guitar on his lap. 

"There was a song you sang at your mother's funeral and you sing it every death anniversary because like you've said before, she'll always be here for you." Chanyeol started strumming and let his soft, deep voice carry out into the room, trying to hold back tears.

_**Said goodbye, turned around, and you were gone~** _

__

_**Faded into the setting sun, slipped away~** _

__

_**But I won't cry, cause I know I'll never be lonely~** _

__

__**For you are the stars to me, you are the light I follow~**

****

_**I will see you again, oh~** _

__

_**This is not where it ends~** _

__

_**I will carry, you with me, oh~** _

__

_**Until I see you again~** _

__

"Said goodbye turned around, and you were gone, gone, gone." Kyungsoo quietly finished off the song, Chanyeol could hear him sniffling. 

"That was the song she played when my dad died too....." Chanyeol turned around and smiled softly at Kyungsoo, even if he wasn't looking back at him. Kyungsoo had opened up, even if it was just a tiny bit. 

"You're such a strong person Kyungsoo, she'd be so proud of you right now."

Kyungsoo's voice wavered, "C-can you leave please?"

Chanyeol nodded, wiping away his own tears and getting up. He draped one of the blankets over Kyungsoo's shoulders. "Good night Kyungsoo." 

~~ 

Chanyeol wasn't expecting much of a change in Kyungsoo's behavior the next day, but he was surprised to see Kyungsoo sitting at the breakfast table the next morning, eating a bowl of cereal with red eyes, but surprisingly, he was dressed for work. 

Chanyeol tried to not show any reaction on his face, Kyungsoo would definitely get upset if he tried to prod him about it, or even try to get him to stay home to recover more

"Are you coming into work today?" Chanyeol asked, sitting across from Kyungsoo with his own bowl of cereal.

"Yeah....." Kyungsoo said, his voice soft, "and, thank you for last night." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is the saddest this story will get for a while, we're now going to shift a little more into fluff/mystery/drama. As you can see from ALL THE FORESHADOWS, When the other characters finally get involved well yikes LOL. 
> 
> I really tried to mix in everything, you saw a fun little flashback of Jongin, some backstory on his mother, some info on Minseok, a little bit of everything um yay xD.
> 
> It's 4am so I can rant. If I tried writing this chapter during the school year, I probably would've given up on the story. I did myself a huge disfavor by not writing out the plot, like I don't even know the ending I only know um 'certain things' so I really didn't know how to approach this chapter because I didn't want these 'certain things' to start showing up too fast and ending the story in 8 freaking chapters because that's urealistic af. 
> 
> I also refused to let the issue surrounding Kyungsoo's mother last for more than a chapter, really not an issue I would prefer to leave you guys hanging on, I know some authors would make you experience the emotional roller coaster over like 2 chapters but I wanted you to have the whole ride in 1 chapter so please tell me how that went. 
> 
> I actually feel like trash rn lmfao never staying up for 22 hours straight again, 
> 
> The biggest teaser I can give you next chapter is that it's hopefully going to be VERY Kyungsoo x Chanyeol centric.
> 
> I love your comments they ARE SO MOTIVATING holy cow so please keep letting me know what you think and I DON'T KNOW WHY 600 HITS AND 40 KUDOS MAKE ME SO HAPPY BUT IT DOES, thank you so much for the support and I hope you continue to give this story your love and support <3
> 
> ALSO IF THERE'S A MISTAKE PLEASE LET ME KNOW OML, remembers, 4am and 22 hours straight of being awake xd.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone took a month to write this *oops*
> 
> There are some pretty obvious/bad transitions PLS FORGIVE THOSE. 
> 
> Now go enjoy the story!
> 
> Also um we're going to have a nice little talk at the end of this chapter xD

**D - 90**

Kyungsoo's return to work wasn't very special, the most he got was a pat on the back from Junmyeon and an obviously restrained smile from Baekhyun.

His workload was also on the lighter side, instead of shifting to cross-checking the usage on company credit cards and inputting it into the system.

He still felt gloomy though, and he caught himself spacing out on the credit reports too many times. He was starting to wish that Baekhyun would bother him but the other was couped up in his cubicle today.

And then while he ate his lunch at his desk, he hoped for a ball of energy to hurl themselves at him, but he was disappointed with his uneventful lunch when he found himself tucking the empty container away. 

He still found himself thinking about it when he was eating dinner with Chanyeol, and decided not to bring it up because even though the hints of tension were still prevalent from the last incident, Chanyeol was doing his best to describe something stupid Junmyeon had done in their meeting that day and Kyungsoo was trying to give Chanyeol his full attention in their time together.

Even when Chanyeol paused, a sketch of worry on his face when he could tell that Kyungsoo was growing increasingly anxi⁹ous, Kyungsoo brushed it off and encouraged Chanyeol to keep talking about his day. 

The same case happened the next day, his shift went by really quietly, a deadly type of boring that did not aid the thoughts that Kyungsoo was drowning in. 

And that night when Chanyeol had a pause in his stories, chewing on a bite of his food, Kyungsoo decided to speak up.

"I, uh." Chanyeol was looking at him intently now, but Kyungsoo didn't know how Chanyeol would react to him feeling weird about Baekhyun avoiding him. Would Chanyeol make fun of him? Would Chanyeol go push him to talk to Baekhyun? As the anxiety bit at him, Kyungsoo decided to confide in Junmyeon tomorrow instead. 

"It's nothing." Chanyeol nodded in understanding.

"Okay, anyways the coffee machine was overheating again and you won't believe what the maintenance guy found in it." Chanyeol launched into another of his daily stories. 

Kyungsoo smiled as Chanyeol detailed the events of the screwed up coffee machine, at least he could temporarily block out his thoughts.

Even when Chanyeol bid him goodnight later, standing in the hallway a moment longer than usual, as if a cue for Kyungsoo to speak up, Kyungsoo still gave him a simple goodnight and closed the door.

~~~

Kyungsoo wasn't trying to confront Chanyeol about it.

He was planning on asking Junmyeon later in the day. 

But Baekhyun was still avoiding him, the credit reports weren't lining up and something was off with his coffee so when Chanyeol had asked him how he was doing when he was on the way to the cafeteria for lunch, his stress at the moment made his tone stern. 

"Is Baekhyun avoiding me?" Kyungsoo watched Chanyeol swallow hard.

"Is this what's been bothering you the last few days?" Chanyeol replied with a question. 

Kyungsoo hesitated but the look in Chanyeol's eyes was already enough for him to know that he couldn't lie his way out of this one. "Yes...." 

"He also feels bad about not telling you about your mom as well, he's scared that you'll get mad at him if he tries to talk to you," Chanyeol said. 

Kyungsoo frowned, "I won't kill him." Chanyeol smiled at that.

"You seem embarrassed that you miss him talking to you though." Kyungsoo glared at Chanyeol, "No I'm not." 

Chanyeol was unfazed, "Remember, if your personalities really did clash that much then you wouldn't have been best friends in the first place, you should go talk to him."

"Chanyeol has a point Kyungsoo," Junmyeon popped out of nowhere, acting like he wasn't eavesdropping in the first place.

Kyungsoo sighed, Chanyeol had a point. "Where does he keep disappearing to then?" 

"Baekhyun keeps going offsite for the company's big project, you'll be assigned to it too maybe next week or the week after," Junmyeon said. Chanyeol turned to Junmyeon. 

"But no one left the office today? I checked this morning, the contractor's office closed early for the weekend so he was supposed to go next week." Chanyeol said.

"Then where is he now?" Kyungsoo frowned again. He watched Junmyeon and Chanyeol exchange looks. 

"Have you explored the office at all Kyungsoo?" Junmyeon asked. 

"No."

"Baekhyun's probably at the rooftop," Chanyeol said. "Go check there." 

"Why the rooftop?" Chanyeol smiled. 

"You'll see." 

~~

Kyungsoo made his way to the rooftop, lunchbox clutched in hand, and was awed when he opened the door. 

Sections of plants, flowers and benches were scattered across the roof, complete with a little greenhouse in the corner of it (Think High School Musical 3!!!!). A couple of people were sitting on one of the benches both talking. Sitting on a bench near the edge opposite of the door, Kyungsoo could see Baekhyun's back. 

He made his way over and quietly sat down beside Baekhyun. who flinched at the sudden intruder.

"I was told you'd be here," Kyungsoo said. Baekhyun smiled that tight lip smile again, it was kind of unnerving at this point. 

"I'm glad you rediscovered this place," Baekhyun said, voice quiet, "This was our favourite place to have lunch together or hang out when you weren't with Chanyeol."

Kyungsoo didn't respond, instead opting to open his lunchbox and take out his container and open it, Baekhyun took it as a queue to keep going. 

"The roof didn't always look like this, when we first became friends and hung out here it was like a typical roof, empty except for a helicopter landing pad because the Parks were fancy like that." 

Kyungsoo hummed in response, his mouth full of food. 

"You're the reason the rooftop changed, you asked Chanyeol to change it and you took charge in managing the greenhouse and all the plants." 

"Oh wow..." Kyungsoo mumbled, he'd never expected himself to do that. "Who runs it now?" 

"Everyone does their part in taking care of it," Baekhyun said, "I oversee most of it though." 

"That's nice," Kyungsoo responded, unsure of what else to say at the moment and the two fell into a silence as they kept eating their food.

But he still had to bring up the idea of Baekhyun constantly avoiding him. Maybe he could try bringing it up after this bite. 

"I'm sorry about last week," Baekhyun said out of the blue, maybe Kyungsoo wouldn't need to bring it up. 

"I feel equally responsible for not telling you about your mom, we were best friends and I regret not bringing it up." Baekhyun's tone wavered, he was unsure of bringing something else up. But he didn't need to wait for any sort of reassurance because he kept going. 

"I've realized that our level of friendship could never compete with you and Minseok. I know he's helped you through some difficult times that you refused to tell me about before and I still don't know about. 

And the most I've done for you is help you when you've had small arguments with Chanyeol." Baekhyun kicked a rock. 

"And I've been so ashamed that I feel embarrassed to be in your vicinity. Maybe we were never really best friends if I couldn't even stand for you now......" Baekhyun trailed off sadly. But in a bold move, Kyungsoo's hand reached out to Baekhyun's knee, and Baekhyun looked up with a look of shock.

"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit," Kyungsoo responded. "You didn't know me before and while I don't remember now what happened in the past, I'm sure you would have supported me as much as Minseok had." Kyungsoo gave Baekhyun's knee a little squeeze. 

"Also I should be sorry too, for what our friendship was worth I guess I haven't been as open to as I should have. It's just been a lot to take in." Baekhyun nodded in understanding.

"And I think we restarted on the wrong foot," Kyungsoo said.

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun asked. 

"I'm saying we should have another game night, tonight." Baekhyun beamed at him, now there's the energy that Kyungsoo was missing. 

"Yes!" Baekhyun jumped to his feet, "This is great I think I have the perfect idea of what we should do!" The excitement was oozing out of Baekhyun, and for once, Kyungsoo didn't feel off-put by it, even returning Baekhyun's smile. 

"Sounds good." 

Maybe Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were destined to reforge their friendship and grow closer than never before.

~~~

That previous line was bullshit because Kyungsoo was standing in the living room, thinking of whacking Baekhyun with the coffee table as the other excitedly hooked up "Just Dance" to the T.V. 

**JUST DANCE.**

"What's wrong with you I don't dance!" Kyungsoo exclaimed as the T.V turned on. 

Baekhyun snickered and selected "Finesse", "Well then I guess you're already ready to lose!" 

Chanyeol smiled, listening to the ruckus as he washed dishes, reminiscing on an old memory. 

~

_The first time Chanyeol had seen Kyungsoo's smile was beautiful._

_Before he started dating Kyungsoo, he was on his way up to his office when he caught Junmyeon standing at the entrance to one of the meeting rooms, arms crossed._

_"I don't know how long they've been in there," Junmyeon muttered._

_"Doing what?" Chanyeol didn't wait for Junmyeon to answer because he peeked inside himself._

_There, in front of the projector screen, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were having a heated just dance battle to Bruno Mars' Finesse._

_"Stop getting perfects!" Kyungsoo shouted._

_"Give it up!" Baekhyun shouted back._

_It was normal to see Baekhyun moving around so much, but Kyungsoo was a whole other story._

_There was an intense look of concentration on his face and he was actively moving, to Chanyeol, the sight was intriguing to see._

_"I don't even know how this happened." Junmyeon said, "First they're at each other's throats and then suddenly they're like this."_

_"In your face!" Kyungsoo cheered out as the results panned across the screen, declaring Kyungsoo the winner by a short margin._

_Then Kyungsoo broke out into a wide smile and Chanyeol felt his heart stop._

_The adorable crescents his eyes formed, the cute heart shape of his lips and the gleam of the light on his face were doing Chanyeol's heart no favours._

_"I should probably go scold them for playing during work," Junmyeon said but Chanyeol stopped him._

_"Don't, it's fine," Chanyeol said._

_Junmyeon crossed his arms, "I can see the look in your eyes, you're smitten."_

_"I'm not," Chanyeol argued, leaning on the door. Which was a pretty poor choice because it caused the door to open. Earning a surprised squeak from Baekhyun who rushed to unplug the projector and act as nothing happened. But it was hard to fake considering that the evidence was written all over the sweat on his and Kyungsoo's face._

_"Hey Chanyeol, yo Juniper!" Chanyeol saw Junmyeon cringe and he laughed internally. "We were discussing the credit reports."_

_"That was not discu-" Junmyeon tried to remark but Chanyeol raised his hand in front of him, motioning him to stop._

_He made his way to Kyungsoo, who was looking down in embarrassment._

_"You know, you're pretty cute when you smile."_

_"Yuck!" Chanyeol heard Baekhyun's remark from the side. But unlike past times when Kyungsoo would automatically react and push Chanyeol away, Chanyeol could see a blush paint Kyungsoo's cheeks even with his head down. Kyungsoo didn't even bother responding to it. instead choosing to run out of the room._

_"Well well, you're still as adamant as ever to date," Baekhyun remarked, lips quirking into an amused smile. "I would think after the umpteenth time he's told you that he's not interested that you would have given up."_

_"Hey, why were you two playing Just Dance in here anyways?" Chanyeol changed topics._

_"As per Tuesday 11 am rituals, I was enjoying myself to some Shakira on my coffee break. He told me he could do better, I told him there was no way his stiff grandpa limbs could actually dance. And would you look at that, Junmyeon is still the worst dancer in this office."_

_"Hey!" Junmyeon exclaimed, "Don't mention that."_

_"It's okay," Baekhyun said, walking past the two of them and stopping at the doorway, "You're lucky your love life doesn't depend on it. And Chanyeol. It looks like you're actually getting somewhere, don't give it up now." Baekhyun shot him a thumbs up and walked away._

_Junmyeon frowned, "He sucks sometimes.." He shook his head out of it. "But he has a point Chanyeol, it's starting to look like you have a chance."_

_Chanyeol's broke into a smile, "It looks like I do."_

~~ 

The same smile was plastered on Chanyeol's face as he moved to the entryway to watch as Kyungsoo furiously flailed his arms, trying to keep up with Baekhyun. 

"This isn't fair!" Kyungsoo whined when Baekhyun was declared the winner once again. "I don't remember these songs!" 

Instead of a snarky remark, Baekhyun responded with a playful point of his tongue, flipping through the song selection again. 

"Yes you do, because your hips don't lie!" Baekhyun replied as he selected the mentioned song. 

Suddenly feeling hot at the thought of Kyungsoo twerking or something equally thirst trap worthy, Chanyeol resumed his cleaning session in the kitchen, listening in on the excited shouts that filled the house. 

And soon enough, he found Baekhyun and Kyungsoo sprawled on top of each other laughing, with the screen showing a surprising tie score. 

And there it was, the sight of it did things to Chanyeol's heart. 

Kyungsoo's eyes were adorably crinkled and his heart-shaped smile was on full display as he was laughing with Baekhyun. 

It's felt like forever since Chanyeol had seen Kyungsoo let himself go so easily, the most he had seen in a while were small, reserved smiles. 

And then the feeling came, the desire to always protect that smile, to always be the reason for that smile. If he could make the promise in his wedding vows, he could vow to do it again. 

Chanyeol went upstairs to give the two some privacy, he'd get that smile for himself someday anyways. 

~

After washing up, Chanyeol walked out of the bathroom and saw Kyungsoo walking up the stairs. 

"Did Baekhyun leave already?" Chanyeol asked. It was only 11 o'clock. 

"He has a dentist appointment tomorrow," Kyungsoo answered.

"Well, it sounds like you had fun," Chanyeol said. 

"Yeah, I did," Kyungsoo replied. He shifted on the balls of his feet in the silence that followed, he didn't know what else to say. Chanyeol pretended like Kyungsoo wasn't feeling awkward and smiled at him. 

"I'll head to bed first, goodnight Kyungsoo." 

"Goodnight Chanyeol." Chanyeol closed his guest room door and went under the covers. He could hear Kyungsoo shuffling around the bathroom and their room. 

He wasn't listening to Kyungsoo cry, and the thought set Chanyeol's mind at ease. 

Even if they weren't making progress, as long as Kyungsoo was making progress somewhere, Chanyeol couldn't be happier. 

~~

Chanyeol woke up the following Saturday morning once again to the smell of blueberry pancakes. Deciding to not recreate the past fiasco of Kyungsoo almost giving him a concussion a while ago, Chanyeol decided to stay in bed as the sweet sensation of blueberry pancakes and faint traces of Kyungsoo's humming invaded his senses. 

"Chanyeol." Kyungsoo opened the bedroom door after an unprecedented amount of time. "I made breakfast, you can come down when you're ready." 

Chanyeol couldn't hide the smile in his voice as he muffled a "thank you." from under the covers. When he heard the door close he burst out of the blankets grinning ear to ear.

He came down to a plate of blueberry pancakes and to his pleasant surprise, there were lines of blueberries forming a smiley face. 

"This smells great," Chanyeol commented. Quickly taking a bite before he could even sit down. "Tastes great too."

Even with his face half-buried in the morning newspaper highlighting the drug circle on the front page once again, Chanyeol could see Kyungsoo's mouth twitch slightly. 

"I'm glad you like it," Kyungsoo said, voice slightly muffled. "Anyways, Baekhyun wants to take me shopping." He placed the newspaper down. "He said I need to get a good taste of current fashion before I revert back to the 2000s and dress like a dad." Chanyeol laughed at that, typical of Baekhyun to make a comment like that. 

Chanyeol held back a small frown though, he was hoping to spend more time with Kyungsoo.

"I hope you have a good day with him," Chanyeol said. 

But if he was getting close to Baekhyun again, Chanyeol could let it slide, he still had Sunday anyways. 

~~~

Turns out he didn't have Sunday. 

Chanyeol came downstairs to a plate of omurice dolloped with a swirl of ketchup and a note leaning against the plate. 

**_Went out with Junmyeon, I really won't stay out late today, promise._ **

Chanyeol sighed as he pocketed the note, he shouldn't be complaining, they live together, he'll get his free time when he gets it. He had to go over the outline on the large project proposal anyways. 

~~~

Kyungsoo and Junmyeon were sitting in a cafe for what Kyungsoo was hoping would be an enjoyable time, but Junmyeon has been giving him a look for the last hour that has started to kill him inside.

"You're avoiding Chanyeol," Junmyeon stated out of the blue, conveniently when Kyungsoo had half a pastry in his mouth, almost causing him to spit it out in shock. 

Kyungsoo swallowed the food and composed himself. "No, I'm not." 

"Yes you are, I've known you long enough so you can't hide that from me." Kyungsoo's expression turned into worry. 

"Is it a bad thing? I don't know what to do with him." 

"I know you feel awkward because of Jongin." Kyungsoo's eyes widened. "Chanyeol tells me everything. But you should really try anything with him." Junmyeon paused, taking a sip of his coffee. 

"All he wants is your time, he doesn't expect you to kiss him or something like that." Kyungsoo thought about it, Junmyeon did have a point. 

"I guess," He flicked some crumbs off the table, "I guess I'll try to do something."

Junmyeon smiled, "That's what I like to hear."

~~

Kyungsoo didn't find the courage right away, it took the whole work week for him to finally pull himself together.

He and Chanyeol had carried the same rhythm they had last week, with their Chanyeol centric dinner conversations, small breakfast talks, and their minimal workplace interactions. 

But it bothered him to see the kicked puppy look Chanyeol would have whenever he crossed Kyungsoo and Baekhyun at the office, who was evidently growing closer by the day as Kyungsoo continually got used to Baekhyun's rhythm. 

"Any improvements at home?" Baekhyun had asked Chanyeol on Wednesday, while the duo was standing in the elevator. 

"No, a part of him is still closed off all the time," Chanyeol said, Baekhyun nodded, the elevator door opened and he stepped off, but turned to Chanyeol and said one more thing.

"I'll try to talk to him about it." 

Chanyeol was already expecting Kyungsoo to take a long time to come around, their routines weren't improving and this company project was doing him no favours. With Yoora being on everyone's tail, as usual, he had spent the week preparing for Kyungsoo to get assigned to the project next week. 

So colour him surprised at the person that had visited him on Friday. 

_**Knock! knock!** _

"Come in," Chanyeol called over his shoulder. He heard the door open slowly.

"Chanyeol?" That voice, ever since the accident he hadn't expected that voice to make its way to his office for a long time. He spun around at the sound of Kyungsoo's voice and he was standing at the door. 

"Hi, Kyungsoo!" Chanyeol said, "What brings you here?" 

"I was wondering," Kyungsoo shifted on his feet, "Do you want to maybe go somewhere after work?" He asked.

Like a date? "Oh, you want to hang out?" Chanyeol said with a bit too much enthusiasm. 

"Yeah, we've only spent time together at our house." Chanyeol wasn't expecting Kyungsoo to make any big moves this early on so this was surprising to say the least. 

"That sounds great, I don't have any meetings in the afternoon so we can leave a little earlier." Kyungsoo smiled at his response. 

"I'll see you later." He said and he left the room.

When Chanyeol heard the door click he silently fist pumped in the air. This really was great.

~~

"Where are you flying off to?" Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo when he noticed Kyungsoo already getting to leave 3 hours before his shift was supposed to end. 

"I'm going to go out with Chanyeol for a bit," Kyungsoo said, if Baekhyun reacted with his face, Kyungsoo wasn't looking at him. 

"Sounds nice, try not to have too much fun~" Baekhyun sang out, and the teasing was pleasant, Baekhyun wasn't trying to cross a line. 

"Actually I will have a lot of fun because you're not there." Kyungsoo shot back, Baekhyun gasped. 

"You dare think like that? Now shoo!" Baekhyun shooed him off dramatically. Kyungsoo laughed at him and walked away. 

Baekhyun smiled, "It's so nice to have him back, kind of." He muttered as he went back to his work. 

A while later, on his way to do a daily report with some of the interns, a particular conversation caught his ear. 

"Did you read Kim Minseok's book yet?" 

"I did, it's so interesting!" Two hushed female voices rang inside his head. But it was the name that stood out. 

"Hey." Baekhyun poked his head around the corner, it was Seohyun and Taeyeon talking. 

"Who is this Kim Minseok we're talking about?" Seohyun grinned at him and held out a book in front of him. 

_**Hidden in Plain Sight: How Recent Presidency In The United States Has Affected Homelessness and the Racial Hierarchy. By Kim Minseok** _

"The author of the coolest book ever, I never knew Anthropology could be this interesting," Seohyun said. 

"Anthropo what?" Baekhyun asked and Taeyeon scoffed at him.

"It's the study of culture." She answered. 

"Minseok's an anthropologist and he's spent years doing research in New York, and all of his research is in this book, you should check it out!" Seohyun told Baekhyun, enthusiasm laced in her voice. 

Baekhyun's eyes widened. 

"Could it be......" He mumbled. 

"Could it be what?" Seohyun asked. 

"It sounds like it could be the best book ever!" Baekhyun replied, "Say, can I borrow that book? I'll bring it back to you tomorrow." 

"Of course!" Seohyun handed the book over to him, "I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did."

Baekhyun grinned at her, "I sure will!" He said and dashed his way back to his desk, forgetting about the interns. 

Oh shoot, the interns, they'd probably get antsy and piss themselves if Baekhyun didn't show up. 

"I will return to you soon~" Baekhyun sang to the book, leaving it on his desk, and going to his meetup. 

~~~

Kyungsoo was standing at Chanyeol's door looking enthusiastic, and the sight honestly made Chanyeol feel fuzzy. 

"Are you ready to go?" Kyungsoo asked. 

Chanyeol nodded, "Yeah, I'll grab the car keys." 

"Can we go for a walk instead?" Kyungsoo asked. 

"Yeah we can, let's go." Both of them made their way to the entrance of the building, the travel for once filled with Kyungsoo's voice, detailing how much of a prick Baekhyun was being in the morning. 

The changeup was so pleasing to Chanyeol, he couldn't help but listen to the happy tone of Kyungsoo's voice filled his ears. 

When they stepped outside, Kyungsoo asked another question. 

"Can we grab some food first?" He asked. 

"Sure! What did you have in mind?"

A McDonalds. 

Never in their 6 years together had Chanyeol would have expected Kyungsoo to eat a McDonalds, he had been pretty vocal about his dislike for the particular fast-food chain in the past. 

"This is interesting," Chanyeol muttered as Kyungsoo lead him inside. He turned to Kyungsoo, "Sit down and I'll order for us, what did you want to eat?" Kyungsoo closed his eyes, trying to think, but he opened his eyes and shrugged. 

"Just a snack, I don't know how the menu has changed but I'm sure that you remember what I liked eating here, so you can order that." Chanyeol gave him a bewildered look. 

"You were never a Mcdonald's person, I've never seen you eat it but since you just want a snack, I think I know what can work." Chanyeol left and the statement surprised Kyungsoo. His eyebrows furrowed as he watched Chanyeol walk away.

Had he really avoided McDonald's for that long? 

_~~_

_Cheap plastic hard seats, crumbs were strewn across the floor, and the unmistakable scent of french fries and big macs floating through the air._

_Not a particularly great choice for celebrating anything._

_Yet it's the place that Jongin and Kyungsoo retreated to after their year-end concert, knowing fully that they both scored A's on the performance. They couldn't celebrate at a restaurant, they were broke college students._

_"You did great Soo." Jongin slid a mcflurry towards Kyungsoo and placed a large packet of fries between the two of them. Jongin reached out a hand, placing it over Kyungsoo's "I really mean it." Kyungsoo fought back the blush on his cheeks._

_"You too Jongin," Kyungsoo said._

_"Have you ever tried dipping a french fry into the mcflurry and eating it?" Jongin asked. Kyungsoo shook his head._

_"No way! Try it, it's the best thing ever~" Jongin dipped a french fry and coaxed it into Kyungsoo's mouth._

_Kyungsoo's eyes lit up as the combination of sweet, salty, hot, and cold melted in his mouth._

_"Wow, it is really good!" Kyungsoo said and dug in, closing his eyes and savouring the newly discovered food combination._

_Boop._

_Feeling a cold sensation hit his cheek, Kyungsoo opened his eyes and saw Jongin grinning cheekily with an ice cream covered french fry in hand, he had smeared ice cream on Kyungsoo's cheek._

_"Yah, I can do that too!" Kyungsoo said and smeared some ice cream on Jongin as well._

_A short minute later, the two of them were giggling at each other with ice cream strewn across both of their faces. The laughing eventually faded out and the two were staring at each other fondly. Blushes were rising on both of their faces before Jongin shook his head and sighed._

_"You're not going to stop talking to me are you?" Kyungsoo tilted his head._

_"Why would we?" Jongin patted Kyungsoo's hair and smoothed it out slightly, Kyungsoo leaning into the touch but as quickly as it started, Jongin pulled away._

_"It's that we don't have a reason to hang out anymore and I don't want to lose what we've had and maybe we could keep being friends and mph!" Kyungsoo cut off Jongin's rambling with an impulsive peck to his lips._

_Jongin stared at him with wide eyes. Kyungsoo, ashamed at his impulses, was about to get up before Jongin grabbed his face. Jongin was still staring at him and Kyungsoo was starting to freak out._

_Before he could comment, Jongin dived in this time, engaging the duo in a brief lip-lock that sent shivers up Kyungsoo's spine, he's caught himself staring at Jongin's kissable lips dozens of times and wondering how they would feel against his._

_They broke apart and they were both panting._

_"You... wow..." Jongin was breathless. "Can I kiss you again?"_

_Kyungsoo didn't even bother to reply, grabbing the nape of Jongin's neck and pulling him in to kiss him again. Melding into each other perfectly._

_And in an old McDonalds, with ice cream smeared all over their faces, two broke college students shared their first kiss._

_~~_

Kyungsoo gaped in shock when Chanyeol came up to him, holding two mcflurry's and a packet of fries.

"Do you not like it?" Chanyeol was worried, "I know it's not summer but I thought maybe you'd like it." 

"No it's fine," Kyungsoo took the Mcflurry out of Chanyeol's hand, "I guess you do know me so well." 

Chanyeol smiled, "You know what's really good though? Dipping the fries in the mcflurry."

Chanyeol mistook the look of shock on Kyungsoo's face as intrigue for his statement. "Try it." He encouraged Kyungsoo. 

"If you say so," They were outside walking again, and Kyungsoo dipped the french fry inside. Mustering his best face of surprise when he placed the fry in his mouth, despite already knowing what it tasted like. 

"Wow, you're right!" Chanyeol grinned even wider at him

"I'm glad you like it," Chanyeol said. They continued walking in a rather comfortable silence, indulging in the food. 

Kyungsoo was doing his best to enjoy the moment when a foreign yet familiar cold sensation hit his cheek. 

"Sorry," Chanyeol said. He was holding an ice cream covered fry. "I was trying to lighten the mood." He handed Kyungsoo a napkin. 

"It's okay." And the two kept walking until they came across a park. The site of a street vendor sparked Kyungsoo's interest, and upon seeing that he was selling kites, he excitedly dumped his empty Mcflurry cup into the garbage and bought one. 

Chanyeol quirked an eyebrow at him, "I don't think I've ever flown a kite before." 

Kyungsoo smiled at him, "Perfect, I can show you." 

Kyungsoo guided Chanyeol to a bridge somewhere in the park, with a river flowing below them. 

Kyungsoo threw the kite in the air, and placed the spool the Chanyeol's hands, holding Chanyeol's hands to help him steady the kite and guide it through the air. 

After a while, Chanyeol broke the silence, "This is nice." Kyungsoo turned to see a calmed expression on Chanyeol's face, but the tips of his ears were red and suddenly Kyungsoo was aware that he was basically holding Chanyeol's hands. 

And then the whole situation came together and a flashback came up in his mind.

~~

_Kyungsoo was sad, it was the last weekend before finals and he was hoping to take Jongin out to an amusement park to ease some tension before the stress hit them._

_He had worked hard saving up for a day to spoil Jongin all he wanted and his disappointment was grand when they had found the amusement park closed for renovations._

_"Don't feel so down about it Soo, we can go some other time," Jongin said, squeezing his boyfriend's hand in reassurance as the two made their way down the street._

_Kyungsoo nodded, not being in the mood to talk, he leaned his head on Jongin's shoulder and let him guide the walking._

_"Besides, we can still have fun," Jongin said when the two walked past a local park. He sat Kyungsoo down on one of the benches. "Wait here." And Jongin ran off, coming back a few minutes later with a kite in hand from one of the street vendors._

_Kyungsoo looked at the kite and then Jongin and pouted._

_Jongin laughed, "Stop looking so cute~" He pinched Kyungsoo's cheek, who swatted him away appropriately._

_"We'll have as much fun as flying this kite." Kyungsoo looked down. Jongin smirked. "You've never flown a kite have you."_

_Kyungsoo covered his mouth and it was all the reaction Jongin needed to know he hit the nail on the coffin._

_"Oh come on, it'll be fun." He tugged his boyfriend off the bench and lead him onto the open field, "And lucky for us, it's windy today."_

_"Here hold this." He placed the spool in Kyungsoo's hands, unravelled some of the string, and then threw the kite into the air, which immediately caught the draft of the wind and started soaring._

_"And then you have to keep your grip steady on the spool, I'll help you." Jongin wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo, holding his hands as they held the spool of the string together, watching the kite soar higher and higher into the sky._

_Kyungsoo leaned into Jongin. "I'm sorry about being upset, we don't have a lot of money and for some reason, you keep buying everything and I just wanted to spoil you for once."_

_"Don't worry Soo. I enjoy spoiling you because I love you." Kyungsoo's cheeks turned pink, he looked back at Jongin._

_"You love me?" It was the first time they had said I love you to each other._

_"Yes, I do. I love you." Kyungsoo smiled wide._

_"I love you too." He pecked Jongin on the lips. Jongin grinned at him and hugged him tighter._

_"And one day you can spoil me, we have forever for that to happen," Jongin replied._

_"Sounds like you plan on spending the rest of your life with me? Are you going to propose now?" Kyungsoo joked. But the thought of Jongin getting down on one knee for him sped up his heart rate and his grip on the kite wavered._

_Jongin sensed the shake and pulled Kyungsoo closer to his chest and pecking his cheek as well._

_"When we're a little bit older, I will."_

~~

"I'm sorry." Kyungsoo let go of Chanyeol's hands and buried his face in his hands instead.

"What's wrong Kyungsoo?" Kyungsoo was biting his lip hard, Chanyeol could tell he was debating between sharing his thoughts or keeping them to himself. "You know you can tell me anything." 

"I just, I didn't realize all the things I wanted us to do today were associated with something special I did with Jongin. I wanted to do something special and unique for you but I guess I screwed that up." Chanyeol placed a hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder. 

"I'm not upset about that Kyungsoo, all I'm glad is that we're finally spending some time together outside of the house or office." Kyungsoo looked at him. "And if you ever want to share anything about Jongin, I'm all ears."

"Do you really mean that?" Chanyeol's gaze softened.

"I do." And then the wind cut short and before both of them knew it, the kite was quickly falling out of the sky, without enough time for them to reel it in.

"The kite!" Kyungsoo shouted as he reached over the bridge, watching the kite fall helplessly before sinking into the water. 

Falling, helplessly. 

Something about the situation was starting to cloud Kyungsoo's thoughts.

"Don't worry Kyungsoo, let it go, it was just a kite" Chanyeol chuckled, "It's not like someone fell off the bridge."

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck Kyungsoo's head and he gripped onto the side of the bridge and groaned in pain. 

"Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol said worriedly, Kyungsoo could feel Chanyeol's hands massaging his back. "Just breathe in and out okay? When you feel better you can let go and we'll go sit down." _ **\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**_

_**"Let go of me!" He was sobbing, his vision was so blurry, and he was trying to push someone away from him.** _

_**"I'm not letting go!"** _

_**"Please!" He kept shouting in despair "Let me go!"** _

_**Then a face made itself clear throughout all the tears, the pale skin and sharp eyes were unmistakable, but the view was so overwhelming, Kyungsoo hadn't seen this face in a long time.** _

_**"Let me go Minseok!"** _

_**~~** _

"M-minseok?" Kyungsoo stuttered out, still wincing in pain. Confusion was starting to grace his face, mixing in with the pain and contorting his face even more. 

"Kyungsoo, please." Chanyeol had his arms wrapped around Kyungsoo now, who was too phased to try to push Chanyeol away. "I'm here."

"You're..... not l-letting go.... argh!" Kyungsoo cried out in pain again, jerking in Chanyeol's arms, who's grip on him only tightened harder "Y-you, j-just had to.... let g-go of.... m-me."

All of a sudden, Kyungsoo fell limp, Chanyeol managed to tighten his hold on him before he completely collapsed on the bridge. 

"Kyungsoo!" 

**_I need your love, in your arms, I need you now, hold me tight._ **

**_In memories I've missed, only you can wake me up~~~_ **

****

**_Eddy Kim - When Night Falls_ **

****

****

"Jongdae, it's about time we go back to Korea." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAH WOAH WOAH, DID KYUNGSOO ACTUALLY REMEMBER SOMETHING!?!? ARE MINSEOK AND JONGDAE GOING TO SHOW UP NEXT CHAPTER OMFG!!!??!?!?!
> 
> yes. Yes he did. and maybe, next chapter or chapter 7. It's my choice LOL. 
> 
> The reason this chapter took so damn long was because I was not sure what direction I wanted/needed this story to go in. It was a lot of internal debate over how much memory Kyungsoo will get back or if he will even get it back at all, it's the 100 Days My Prince VS The Vow debate, where I think in The Vow she remembers nothing (asked a friend) where as 100 Days My Prince, he remembers everything, so I had a lot to think about.
> 
> As you can see, I clearly want Kyungsoo to remember something, I'm actually still not sure how much I want him to remember LOL. But one thing for sure, this first memory is pivotal and might actually drive at least the 2nd quarter of this story. (I've been dropping some very VERY subtle hints and I hope some of you actually remember them/ paid attention to them because that will also start to drive the story O-o) 
> 
> Yes I said it, this fic should be around 18-20 chapters, kind of like a k-drama (hint hint nudge nudge), I didn't want a bs slowburn. 
> 
> Sorry that this chapter was more Baeksoo/Kaisoo if anything XD, I did that on PURPOSE. Everything happens for a reason.
> 
> It's not 4am for once, it's 1am ;D, look at me getting my life back together before school starts.
> 
> Now I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories!!!
> 
> Also please fill out this short poll/survey if you'd like! It just helps me gauge audience favorites lol (Will probably not influence the story)  
> :http://www.survey-maker.com/QEH2O2DBI


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is what we call, TRASH
> 
> enjoy xD
> 
> BUT A LOT HAPPENS SO PAY ATTENTION

**D - 78**

A nurse immediately ran up to Chanyeol at the sight of him carrying Kyungsoo into the hospital, but she seemed to relax a bit when she noticed that Kyungsoo was breathing softly. 

"What's the name of the patient and situation sir?" She asked. Motioning Chanyeol to place him on a nearby stretcher. 

"Do Kyungsoo, I don't know what happened, his head just started hurting and then he passed out." Chanyeol spoke in frantic, breathy phrases. 

The nurse nodded before brisk walking to the receptionists desk and typing something in on the computer. Her eyes widened and she brought up the telephone beside her to her ear. 

"Please set up room 306, we have a patient coming." She glanced at Kyungsoo, "Tell Dr. Zhang to come up when he's ready." 

Chanyeol's eyes widened. 

The nurse came back and started pushing the stretcher, she was going at a leisurely pace so nothing had to be significantly wrong with Kyungsoo. 

"You called Dr. Zhang?" Chanyeol blurted the question out but the nurse wasn't bothered. 

"Yes," The nurse answered, "Kyungsoo's past medical history shows that he's one of Dr. Zhang's patients from before, so it's natural to have the same doctor present. It seems to be for a similar situation too, brain stuff, so it works." 

Chanyeol nodded, running a hand through his hair nervously, getting anxious thinking about his meeting with Dr. Zhang, he was finally going to get some answers.

~~

"Alright, let's see what we have here." Baekhyun was sitting at his desk, after his meeting, scrolling through Minseok's book. It was also co-written by his boyfriend Jongdae, but he seemed to give Minseok most of the credit, hence why only Minseok's name was on the front page.

"Pfft, whipped." Baekhyun muttered as he found the page he was looking for, the about author page that would detail the basics on Minseok's life. 

It had Minseok's place of birth, his hobbies, his relationship status, which was helpfully supplied with a small autobiography of Jongdae under his because they wrote the book together, but other than that, there was no way to contact him. 

Baekhyun frowned, a lot of writers liked to put an email somewhere for people to write to them, and even that was missing. 

But maybe....

_**Plenum Publishing** _

Baekhyun ran his finger over the publishing company name, it was a longshot, but Baekhyun liked taking chances. 

He looked up the company's contact information and dialed in the number, screw international charges this was important. 

Hopefully he could persuade them into giving him Minseok's contact information.

~~

"Minseok, Thank you so much for choosing our publishing company, the book's a huge success." A caucasian man said in english and shook hands with Minseok. 

"It's been my pleasure working with you Mr. Miller." Minseok replied back in English. 

"Please don't hesitate to contact us again when you finish another research project." Minseok smiled at the man and nodded. 

"Of course, I'll take my leave now." The publisher bowed to Minseok as he left the room, and he soon found his boyfriend standing in the hallway, looking at him. 

"You still should've taken half of the credit," Minseok pouted, "It's embarrassing to do all the meetings myself." Jongdae laughed and patted Minseok on the shoulder.

"It's fine, you deserve it." Jongdae said. Both of them made it to the elevator, "What were you thinking of doing next? Tackling another research project, taking a vacation?" They walked inside the elevator. 

"We could take a vacation somewhere like Hawaii?" Minseok said, "Or I wanted to study street vendors in Mexico but that's just a random thought." 

The elevator descended to the bottom floor and they walked out.

"What were you thinking Dae?" 

"I was thinking about visiting Korea again, it's been what, 4 years since we've been there?" 

"Yeah it's been a while," Minseok said, "Wow, I haven't spoken to Kyungsoo in so long, time really flies!" He exclaimed. 

They walked past the receptionist desk.

"You're looking for a Minseok Kim?" The receptionist looked up, catching Minseok's eyes. "We're not supposed to give out information for our clients." 

For some reason the tone of the conversation clawed at Minseok's interest, and he walked up to the receptionist. 

He held out his hand for the phone, "I'll talk to them." The receptionist was taken aback, but handed over the phone. 

"This is Minseok Kim speaking how may I help you?" Minseok said in a business-like english voice. 

_"Minseok?"_ The familiar korean voice spoke and Minseok immediately smiled, switching to korean. 

"Baekhyun! It's been quite a while, how have you been?" Minseok asked.

_"I've been okay, we should catch up sometime."_ Baekhyun said. _"Look, are you coming back to Korea anytime soon?"_

"We were thinking about it, why?" 

_"Listen......"_ As Baekhyun spoke, Minseok looked over at Jongdae, who sensed the unease growing on Minseok's face. He held Minseok's hand. 

"Thanks Baekhyun. We'll see you soon." Minseok ended the call and handed the receptionist the phone. 

"Baekhyun? We haven't seen him in a while, but what happened?" Jongdae asked. 

Minseok looked over to his boyfriend. "Jongdae, it's about time we go back to Korea." 

"Really?" 

"I'll explain on the way home." 

~~

Dr. Zhang was actually standing in front of Chanyeol, he couldn't believe his eyes. 

"I'm Dr. Zhang." Dr. Zhang held out his hand, "but please, call me Yixing." Yixing said. Chanyeol reciprocated the handshake. "And you are?" 

"Park Chanyeol, Kyungsoo's husband." Yixing's eyes lit up. 

"Well it's really nice to meet you! When I saw him 6 years ago he had an engagement ring on but there was no fiance or spouse that came by to check on him." Oh, Yixing didn't know. 

"Anyways," Yixing pulled out his clipboard, "The nurse's report says his vitals were fine and that he had a massive headache and passed out." Yixing flipped over the paper. 

"Also he was recently in a car accident and suffered some memory loss, correct?" 

Chanyeol frowned at that, "Yes he was." Yixing nodded and started writing something down on his clipboard. 

"Well it's clear that he's starting to show signs of remembering, he might only remember a little bit or a lot but at least he's remembering something." Yixing noted. 

"Yixing?" 

Yixing looked up from the clipboard, "Yes?" 

"What happened to him 6 years ago." Yixing quirked an eyebrow at Chanyeol, surprised that he didn't know. 

"He was engaged to someone else 6 years ago." Yixing's mouth formed an O, and he flipped to the bottom of the papers clipped to his clipboard.

"He was rushed to the emergency room due to a blunt force head trauma." 

Chanyeol's expression quickly changed to surprise. 

"When did that happen?"

January 24, 2020" Yixing said. 

"January 24......" 

~~

_January 24, 2020_

_It had started raining that day, the first rain of the year to finally start washing away the snow._

_Rain usually had negative connotations, but that meant nothing when his sister was clapping happily in front of him inside of her office._

_"We pulled it off Chanyeol!" Yoora held out a contract in front of Chanyeol._

_"The land was signed over to us."_

_"No way!" Chanyeol took the paper from Yoora's hands and stared at it in disbelief. But the proof was there, the land was given to them for their promising proposal for the **Jirisan National Park and Lotte World Project.**_

_"How did we get it? The rumor was that they were handing over the lands to Kim Korps?" Yoora smirked, she walked around her desk, picking up a pair of scissors and twirling them in the air._

_"They probably just changed their minds, it doesn't matter Chanyeol, we got it!" Yoora said, "With this project we'll finally be on top."_

_"I guess you're right...."_

~~

Dr. Zhang was looking at him with a neutral smile on his face, unbothered that Chanyeol had spaced out.

But wait, January 24, that's close too.......

"Wait," The memories of Kyungsoo's first statement to his other doctor ran through Chanyeol's mind. "When Kyungsoo woke up from the car accident he thought it was January 20." 

"I see, hmmmm." Yixing flipped through the notes, "When he first came to the hospital, he appeared to have forgotten around the last 4 days prior to his injury, it didn't seem like too much of a significant loss so we thought it would get fixed over time."

"Do you remember exactly what happened to him?" 

"Yes, he was the first patient I ever had..."

~~

_"First shift on the job eh?" A nurse nudged Yixing. Yixing nodded timidly and adjusted the stethoscope around his neck._

_"Yes it is."_

_"Well I wouldn't worry if I were you, the morning shift is never as hectic as the afternoon or evening shift, people like to get into accidents later in the day." She tried to joke but then the beeper in Yixing's pocket went off and suddenly two nurses burst through the doors with a patient on the stretcher._

_"Dr. Zhang! We have a patient in critical condition, we need surgery immediately!" One of the nurses shouted._

_Yixing pulled himself together right away, radioing for someone to start preparing a surgery room and ran alongside the nurses trying to get a story._

_"What's the damage on the patient?"_

_"He was found in a ditch, he's bruised all over and evidence of experiencing hard blows to the head, he's also internally bleeding but we don't know for how long."_

_Yixing could see the red underneath the patient's scalp, he bit his lip, he didn't know if he was going to make it._

_After a never wracking 8 hours of several flat lines and pools of sweat on his forehead, the whole room cheered._

_"We did it guys!" Yixing cheered the loudest, he had actually managed to save the patient._

_"Congratulations Doctor." His assistant doctor patted him on the back, "That was a tough one."_

~~ 

"It sounds like he was assaulted! Didn't the police investigate it?" Chanyeol asked, the thought of someone actually beating up Kyungsoo boiled his blood. 

He looked at Chanyeol again, "I'm guessing by your reaction this whole time you didn't know about this." 

Chanyeol blinked, "No I didn't."

"Look," Yixing leaned closer to Chanyeol and lowered his voice to a whisper. "The hospital and police were told to not investigate the matter." 

"What!?" Chanyeol practically shouted. "How?!" 

"We don't know, the hospital director ordered us to not report it or file it as an assault." Yixing was right, Chanyeol glanced at the document, it says that Kyungsoo fell down a flight of stairs. "But," Yixing continued, "I don't think you should look into it."

Yixing's tone had turned straightforward, almost as if it was an order to Chanyeol to keep quiet. But nothing in his face showed he was guilty of anything, he looked like he was trying to protect Chanyeol. 

"I," Chanyeol looked down, "I understand." But he didn't understand, he'd have to find the answers himself.

"I would like to keep him here for a few days," Yixing said, "He might start a chain reaction of remembering things and if we're going off today, it's best to keep him under watch in case he passes out again." 

"Yes, that's fine." Chanyeol said, "I'll go get some of his stuff later." 

"Yes.."

~~

A worried looking Baekhyun and Junmyeon rushed into the hospital a couple of hours later, meeting up with Chanyeol in the hallway.

"How is he?" Baekhyun asked, a bag of oranges in hand, one of Kyungsoo's favorite fruits, and his favorite to eat when he was feeling unwell. 

"He's still asleep, he was pretty overwhelmed earlier." 

"He's not asleep anymore," Junmyeon said, the trio looked over to see an exhausted looking Kyungsoo, conversing quietly with a nurse looking over him. "Why did he pass out?" 

"He remembered something."

"No way!" Baekhyun dropped his bag, "What did he remember?" 

"I'm not even sure, he was mumbling some incoherent stuff, something about holding on I think? And then he fainted." Baekhyun snapped his fingers.

"Maybe Minseok knows." Baekhyun said

"But we haven't been able to locate Minseok." Chanyeol pointed out. Baekhyun smirked, and it was his all knowing shit eating smirk. 

"What did you do." Junmyeon deadpanned, already expecting the worst when he sees Baekhyun make that face. 

"I may or may not have found Minseok." Baekhyun said, "But I did! Him and Jongdae are actually going to be here in a few days!" 

"What!"

"How!" Junmyeon and Chanyeol shouted different things. 

"Sorry to bother you, but the patient is awake." A nurse cut into their conversation, bowed to them and walked away. 

"I'll explain to you some time, right now I want to see Kyungsoo." Baekhyun said, already picking up his oranges and leaving the other two. 

"Hey wait for me!" Junmyeon called out, he started following Baekhyun, he stopped and turned to Chanyeol, "You coming?" 

"Nah, I'll let you guys have some alone time with him." Chanyeol motioned for him to go, "I have to go pick up some of his clothes anyways so keep him good company."

Junmyeon nodded and left. 

On Chanyeol's way out of the hospital. his cell phone rang. 

"Hey Yoora," Chanyeol held the phone to his ear." 

_"How's my favorite brother in law? Junmyeon told me you had to rush him to the hospital, is everything okay?"_ Yoora said. 

Chanyeol stifled a laugh, "He's your only brother in law, but he's not in any danger so it's fine. He passed out because he finally remembered something. 

Yoora's voice grew quiet, _"What did he remember?"_ , the tone sent shivers down Chanyeol's spine. 

"I'm not sure, I don't really want to ask him about it. If he wants to tell me then he will." Chanyeol said.

_"That sounds like a good idea, don't ask him about his past."_ Yoora said, _"I'll let you be for now, bye Chanyeol."_ She hung up. 

"Well," Chanyeol muttered to himself as he got into his car, "That was weird, she's probably stressed." 

~~

Chanyeol came back a while later with a bag in hand and walked into the hallway to see Baekhyun standing guiltily beside Junmyeon who was looking at him sternly. 

"What happened?" Chanyeol asked as he approached the two of them. 

"Baekhyun upset Kyungsoo." Junmyeon said. Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at Baekhyun. 

"Did you insult him?" Chanyeol asked. 

"I didn't say anything rude," Baekhyun shot back, "He was laughing along one minute and then the next minute he seemed very down." 

"I think it has to do with what he remembered." Junmyeon added on, "Try not to upset him right now Chanyeol. And we should go Baekhyun, visiting hours are almost up." 

They both bid Chanyeol farewell and they were on their way, leaving Chanyeol to stand alone in a room filled with tense atmosphere and Kyungsoo hiding under the covers. 

"I brought your clothes Kyungsoo." Chanyeol said softly, he could hear Kyungsoo breathing quietly. He placed them on the bedside table. 

Not wanting to bother Kyungsoo anymore, he spent the next while tidying the room, cleaning up the mess of orange peels that Baekhyun left behind and placing the chairs back in their place. 

He looked at the clock, visiting hours were over in 10 minutes. 

"Kyungsoo, I have to go now." He stood silently for a minute, still no response. "I'll see you tomorrow." And he started walking away. 

If only Chanyeol had stayed in the room a minute longer. 

"Chanyeol......" Kyungsoo called out weakly from the bed, with a wavery voice. 

He peeked over the covers with teary eyes, seeing the empty room, he sighed, wiping his tears with his arm before hiding under the covers to wallow in his own sadness.

~~

The next few days passed by in a blur, Chanyeol spent his time in the office, zoning out through meetings and mindlessly writing emails and reports, to come to the hospital, sometimes with Baekhyun and/or Junmyeon in tow.

They would sit around Kyungsoo and play something simple like cards, eat oranges, or talk about their day to Kyungsoo, who would sit with his eyes closed, listening with a pleasant smile. 

They all knew that Kyungsoo wasn't telling them how he was really feeling, but they also knew that there was going to be no way to get Kyungsoo to spill any information, and with the promise of Minseok showing up soon, they waited patiently for him, because he would probably draw the answers out of Kyungsoo. 

But if Chanyeol could just wait 10 more minutes before he left the hospital each night, he'd hear Kyungsoo crying. 

And 5 days later, hours before Kyungsoo's departure from the hospital, when Chanyeol had left for the bathroom, he walked down the hallway and even though he was expecting, he was still surprised regardless.

"Long time no see Chanyeol." And there in the flesh, standing in front of him, were Minseok and Jongdae. 

"Wow." Chanyeol gave both of them a hug, "It feels so weird to see you guys again in person, how have you been? Where were you? Why couldn't I contact you?" Chanyeol shot out a flurry of questions. Minseok laughed at that. 

"We've been okay, and sorry about staying out of touch. We both wanted to focus on our research in New York so we left our phones in Korea, avoided social media, and bought different phones solely dedicated for our work while in the States." Minseok replied, "Kyungsoo knew about it before, but I guess he forgot." 

"Yeah....." 

"It's okay Chanyeol." Jongdae patted Chanyeol's back, "Baekhyun told us everything." 

"Is it okay if we go talk to Kyungsoo ourselves?" Minseok asked. 

"Yes of course, he really misses you." Chanyeol motioned to the door, I'll go eat something in the cafeteria and leave you guys alone." 

"Thank you." Minseok and Jongdae walked into the room.

"OH MY GOD MINSEOK!" Chanyeol's heart swelled upon hearing Kyungsoo shout happily.

This was going to help Kyungsoo recover for sure. 

~~

Chanyeol had left the hospital to prepare Kyungsoo's room for when he came back to the house, and when he came back to the hospital, Minseok and Jongdae were leaving the room. 

"He's getting ready right now, he got the clear to leave." Jongdae said. 

"Cool, thanks for letting me know." Chanyeol replied. 

"By the way, we need to talk." Minseok said to Chanyeol with an unreadable expression. "I'll text you the address to meet up later." 

After they left Chanyeol walked to Kyungsoo's room. 

Kyungsoo was standing at the doorway, holding his bag and looking down at the ground. He was tapping his foot to the ticking of the clock. 

Chanyeol didn't know what Kyungsoo discussed with Minseok and Jongdae but it clearly hadn't helped him, Chanyeol bit his lip, he shouldn't bring up the topic. 

"Are you ready to go?" Chanyeol asked. Kyungsoo timidly nodded, not looking up at Chanyeol. 

They walked to the car in a rather comfortable silence, and it was only when Kyungsoo was seated in the passenger seat did Chanyeol remember something.

"I forgot to sign the departure papers, I'll be right back." Chanyeol said to Kyungsoo before running back inside the hospital to sign the papers at the receptionist desk.

While he was signing it, he got a tap on the back. 

"Take care of him well Chanyeol." It was Yixing, smiling at him. But then he leaned forward and whispered,

"Remember what we talked about." 

Chanyeol gulped and nodded. 

"This is for his sake, okay?' 

Chanyeol nodded again. 

"Great!." Yixing said, "Now as much as I'd love to see you two again, I hope I don't have to see you again at the hospital." 

"Me too." Chanyeol gave him a small smile and left. 

~~

Kyungsoo was still silent, eating the soup Chanyeol made him for dinner, and it was taking all of Chanyeol's willpower to not ask him about his memory. Instead, he was filling in the silence with small talk, catching Kyungsoo up on some other random drama. 

"Thanks Chanyeol." Kyungsoo said, getting up when his bowl was empty and walking out of the kitchen. 

After a few minutes Chanyeol heard Kyungsoo start running the shower, and at the same time his phone buzzed. 

It was a text from Minseok.

_Got your # from Baekhyun, meet us here in an hour if you can._

Attached was the address to a cafe, Chanyeol sent a reply back to confirm that he was coming and he went to washing the dishes. 

When Kyungsoo finished showering, looking absolutely adorable with his hair standing at all kinds of fun angles from the blow dryer, Chanyeol told him he was leaving. 

"I have to go run an errand, I'll see you in a bit." It would have been a huge mistake to tell Kyungsoo about meeting up with Minseok without him. 

"Okay...." Kyungsoo said, walking away to his room. 

Chanyeol left the house with high hopes, he was looking forward to yet anxious of what Minseok would share with him.

~~

Kyungsoo was lying in bed, staring out the window. He heard Chanyeol leave about 15 minutes ago and he was trapped with his own thoughts. If only he could escape them right now.....

~~

_He was running away from Jongin, Kyungsoo knew it._

_Weaving his way through the crowds of students as fast as he could, ignoring the sound of his name on Jongin's lips, he made a break for it when he was finally off the campus._

_But he should've known that Jongin's longer limbs were going to catch up to him._

_"Kyungsoo!" Jongin got a firm grasp on Kyungsoo's arm. "Why are you avoiding me, it's been two days....."_

_"Leave me alone." Kyungsoo grumbled and tried to yank his arm from Jongin's grip to no avail._

_"No, I'm not letting you leave until you tell me what's wrong." Kyungsoo was still looking away from Jongin._

_"I guess we're going to stay here forever." Kyungsoo replied. Jongin sighed._

_"Kyungsoo, please, I don't want us to be like this, I miss you." Jongin sounded so vulnerable, Kyungsoo tried to stop his own tears from coming, he was going to lose this battle._

_"You didn't tell me you were rich." Kyungsoo heard Jongin take a sharp intake of breath. "Or that you were the son of the CEO for Kim Korps."_

_"How did you find out?"_

_"Some girls on campus cornered me last week, called me a whore and gold digger." Kyungsoo was starting to sniffle, Jongin sensed it and brought Kyungsoo into a hug._

_"I'm so sorry Kyungsoo." Jongin said, patting Kyungsoo's back tenderly._

_"Why didn't you tell me?"_

_"Most people don't know about my wealth, my parents keep my identity hidden from the public for privacy sake. And I didn't want you to like me for my money."_

**_Whack!_ **

_"Ow...." Jongin rubbed the back of his head where Kyungsoo had smacked it._

_"That's for doubting me," Kyungsoo deadpanned, "Because I love you for who you are. Seriously, I thought we were both broke college students, no wonder you paid for everything...."_

_Jongin smiled cheekily. "And I will keep paying for everything."_

_"And," Kyungsoo held out a pinky, "Promise me you won't leave me for some rich brat." Jongin laughed, doing the pinky shake and pulling Kyungsoo in for a chaste kiss._

_"Never. I'll never leave you."_

~~

But Jongin did. The one memory Kyungsoo just had to remember was the one with Minseok on the bridge, and he knew his mind wasn't playing tricks on him because Minseok had confirmed that Jongin did leave him.

Kyungsoo's eyes welled up with tears, it was going to be a long night.

~~

"Hi!" Jongdae greeted cheerily the moment Chanyeol walked inside the cafe, Minseok nodded at him and motioned for him to sit down, and handed a cup of chai tea over to him. 

"Thank you." Chanyeol accepted the drink graciously and took a sip. 

"We didn't want to keep you up with caffeine," Minseok said, "Anyways, let's catch up, how you've been?" 

Eventually the conversation found it's way to Kyungsoo. 

"Now we both know why we're meeting up." Minseok mentioned after discussing his research adventures in New York. 

"I'm sorry about what happened with you and Kyungsoo." Jongdae said empathetically.

"Thank you, it's been difficult getting used to." Chanyeol said.

"Did you forget anything Chanyeol?" Chanyeol bit his lip. 

"I forgot all about Jongin..... I don't remember a single thing about him." Minseok and Jongdae shared another of those weird telepathy gazes. 

"I talked to Kyungsoo earlier, he said he actually remembered something the other day. Do you know what he remembered?" Minseok asked. 

"We were on a bridge and he mentioned your name and how he wanted you to let him go?" Minseok looked at Jongdae. Silently communicating something again before Minseok turned back to Chanyeol.

"So he remembered that day...." 

"What day?" 

"I already told Kyungsoo the story earlier at the hospital to refresh him but I'll tell you now. That was a very stressful day for us..."

~~

_"Kyungsoo!" Minseok was dashing towards Kyungsoo on the bridge, there was a mess of a couple shattered alcohol bottles spread across the bridge. "Get down from there!"_

_To his horror, Kyungsoo was standing on the edge of the bridge, teetering slowly off._

_"I'm not." Kyungsoo said, a rather dead tone in his voice when Minseok drew near him. "I won't. Thanks for everything." And with a final tilt, he let go of the rail and let himself fall forward._

_But Minseok was faster, and he grabbed Kyungsoo's collar before quickly pulling the younger into his arms._

_The action suddenly broke Kyungsoo's trance, and he started to flail in Minseok's arms._

_"Let go of me!" Kyungsoo was sobbing hard, arms blindly trying to push Minseok away. "Let me fall!"_

_"I'm not letting go!" Minseok was trying to pull Kyungsoo over the railing but he was giving a hard fight._

_"Let me go Minseok!" Kyungsoo wailed louder._

_"Minseok!" Minseok could hear Jongdae running up to them._

_"Damn took you long enough to park the car! Help me!" Minseok shouted at Jongdae, and with enough wrestling, they both managed to hoist Kyungsoo back onto the bridge and held him down hard on the bridge._

_"Kyungsoo." Minseok gripped Kyungsoo's shoulders._

_"Let go of me! I don't want to be here anymore!" Kyungsoo cried out._

_"Kyungsoo!"_

_"He left me Minseok! He was supposed to marry me!" Kyungsoo's heartbreaking cries continued to pierce through the air. "He probably left me for some rich girl!"_

_"Get a hold of yourself!" Minseok start shaking Kyungsoo violently, "We've already been over this, he left you! You can't waste your life living on the past!"_

_And something in his words snapped something in Kyungsoo, he stopped crying out and flailing. Instead collapsing to sink into Minseok's chest._

_"T-there's no point in living anymore Minseok, not when you l-lose the one you care about most." Kyungsoo started crying into his chest._

_All Minseok could do is pat Kyungsoo on the back and let him cry it out._

_"I know Soo, I know." He circled his arms around Kyungsoo, "We'll get through this one day okay?"_

~~~

"He tried to commit suicide because Jongin left him?" Upon seeing Minseok's slow nod in response to that, Chanyeol closed his eyes and tried to take a few deep breathes, that was a lot to take in.

But Chanyeol had felt that Minseok chose a weird spot to stop describing the memory. Especially the glance he shot Jongdae when he took a sip of his drink was unsettling. But maybe it was unnecessary details anyways.

"It's getting late." Minseok noted, "And I think you need some time to digest that." 

"I do...." Minseok nodded, he stood up and held hands with Jongdae. 

"We'll go first then, see you soon." Minseok said. 

"See you later alligator!" Jongdae said. Minseok nudged him. 

"You're being too dorky."

Jongdae pouted. "But you love it!" 

"Shhhhhh." But Chanyeol had caught the conversation and he smirked at Minseok who laughed lightly and dragged Jongdae out of the cafe. 

It was so interesting to see a bit of him and Kyungsoo in Minseok and Jongdae, oh how he missed those times......

~~

Kyungsoo's lights were off when Chanyeol got home, not surprising him in the slightest bit. 

He got himself ready to sleep and after a nice shower, he was getting under the covers. 

**Tik tok tik tok tik tok tik tok**

Chanyeol lay in bed, listening to the sound of the wall clock tick as he continued to reflect on what Minseok shared. 

If that was what Kyungsoo had remembered, that meant that he had been depressed over the last few days, despairing over the tragedy of his relationship with Jongin. 

And then he heard it. 

The sudden unease in his chest and the smallest, almost undetectable sniffle that caused him to sit up. 

He wasn't going to play bystander anymore. 

Chanyeol dashed into Kyungsoo's room and his heart broke at the sight of Kyungsoo hugging a pillow to his chest, sobbing. 

"Kyungsoo." Chanyeol called out, and he sat on the other side of the bed. 

He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around Kyungsoo. But what surprised him was how Kyungsoo reached over and wrapped his arms around Chanyeol. 

"C-can you s-stay?" Kyungsoo whimpered into Chanyeol's shoulder, Chanyeol could feel tears staining the spot. 

The question did catch Chanyeol off guard, his mouth closed and opened a few times, and his arms constantly hesitated to raise themselves before he finally settled on leaning against the headrest of the bed to make himself and Kyungsoo more comfortable, the forgotten familiar feeling filling him up.

He didn't press Kyungsoo for an explanation and let the smaller sink into his embrace. Humming a soft nameless tune to help ease Kyungsoo's tears. 

After a while, Kyungsoo spoke up. 

"He left me." 

"Who?" Chanyeol asked. 

Kyungsoo traced random shapes on top of Chanyeol's hand, an old habit of his when he was hesitant or upset. 

"I r-remember that J-jongin l-left me, M-minseok t-told me......" And Kyungsoo dropped his hand, leaning back onto Chanyeol's chest and continuing to cry.

"It's okay Kyungsoo." Chanyeol rubbed Kyungsoo's back. "I'm here for you." 

Kyungsoo only sobbed harder, gripping onto Chanyeol like his life depended on it.

In response Chanyeol enclosed his arms further around Kyungsoo, and whispered sweet nothings into his ear until his crying softened. 

Eventually, Kyungsoo fell asleep, with a fistful of Chanyeol's shirt in his right hand and his left hand intertwined with Chanyeol's right. 

Chanyeol sighed in relief at the atmosphere calming down and with his free hand, he stroked Kyungsoo's hair and admired his husband. 

Even if Kyungsoo wakes up tomorrow and acts like the moment they shared today didn't exist, Chanyeol will keep his held up high, because he knows that the Kyungsoo that still loves him is in there somewhere. 

_**He suffered a blunt force trauma** _

The thought came up in mind, and he ran his fingers gently over Kyungsoo's head, applying slight pressure until he found it, a dent he never really noticed on his husband's head, but here he was feeling it, giving him actual proof to Yixing's words. 

But something isn't lining up with Kyungsoo's emergency room situation and the information Minseok had shared with him. Something has to have connected the two events. 

It doesn't make sense, Minseok would've told him everything if Chanyeol knew everything from the start. But something felt missing, and no doubt it has to extend beyond what he forgot about Jongin. 

"Don't go." Kyungsoo murmured, his right hand dropped to wrap around Chanyeol. "Nini." 

Chanyeol smiled bittersweetly. 

Even if it was going to hurt him, he was going to uncover the truth. 

**D-73 - End of Part 1**

**Coming Up Next On "100 Days My Accountant"**

_With a lead on the past, Chanyeol will finally start to unravel it._

_But will the actual truth be too much to handle?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL THAT'S A LOT TO DIGEST.
> 
> I had to make a lot of stuff obvious, I dropped some hints in earlier chapters but I feel like no one was catching what I was throwing so I thought screw it I'll just shove it in their face xD.
> 
> "Part 1? Why part 1?" In my mind this story's got 3 parts, that's why LOL. And just in case I don't upload chapter 7 for a while, this is also a perfect excuse for why chapter 7 is taking so long!
> 
> I really have nothing to rant because I'm not exhausted or anything right now!?!?!? So yeah, 
> 
> Please leave a comment and share your thoughts! As you may have noticed I love reading what you think ;D.
> 
> Until next time <3
> 
> P.S and as always, tell me if you spot a mistake or anything, editting will be done tomorrow....... or the day after.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of part 2 in a way O-o.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This story is being crossposted on AFF if you see it there do not worry no one's trying to plagiarize me]
> 
> Long no time to see, we'll talk after the chapter but I'll bring up something first.
> 
> This will 100% be the longest chapter for the story (it hurts me to write something this long UGH) Also it works likes this. 
> 
> The chapter has two halves (The split is very obvious) The first half (minus the intro) is Chanyeol's perspective, the second half is Kyungsoo's perspective but they both go over the exact same 3 day time period. 
> 
> I hope you like the change in pace in formatting?
> 
> Enjoy

**D - 73**

"He didn't leave me."

"Kyungsoo," Minseok shifted his position on the bed so that his legs were crisscrossed. Jongdae was sitting on the left side of the bed. "He did."

"He would never leave me," Kyungsoo shook his head in denial, "He never would." 

"Kyungsoo, look." Minseok placed his hands on Kyungsoo's shoulders. "You have to look at where you are now today, if he never left you then why aren't you married to him now." 

Kyungsoo looked down, which seemed to shake Kyungsoo back to reality. "Kyungsoo, I'm only telling you the truth, we talked about this 6 years ago and you can trust me again." 

Jongdae sat closer to Kyungsoo and patted his knee, "And if you could handle it 6 years ago you'll handle it again today, promise?" 

Kyungsoo looked back up at the both of them, "He really did leave me?" 

"Yes." Minseok nodded once in assurance. 

Kyungsoo looked down again, shoulders slumping, "Then I promise." He said sadly.

~~

Later when they were sitting in the cafe waiting for Chanyeol to show up, Jongdae rapped his fingers on the table as he looked at Minseok with questioning eyes.

"Was it really a good idea to not tell him the whole truth?" He asked.

"For now, it will be." Minseok sighed, "He's not ready to remember the whole truth."

"And what about Chanyeol?"

"Baekhyun said he forgot everything about Jongin, but from what Kyungsoo told me before, he never told Chanyeol anything more than that Jongin left him, so that's exactly what we'll tell him."

"No details?"

"No details."

~~

**D-72**

Chanyeol woke up alone, the warmth that was on his chest last night was no longer there. Chanyeol wasn't surprised because he figured Kyungsoo would have freaked out and retreated the moment he woke up in Chanyeol's arms. 

But he still wishes that he could have woken up to see Kyungsoo in his arms.

The bedroom door slowly creaked open, Kyungsoo stepping inside with adorably dishevelled hair. 

"I made breakfast." Kyungsoo said softly, "Come after you get ready for work." 

Chanyeol smiled tiredly, "Thanks Kyungsoo." The door closed with a soft click. 

But Kyungsoo's appearance was a surprise for sure, aside from his hair, Kyungsoo looked put pretty together for someone that found out that their ex-fiance left them. And even though he spoke quietly, there was no sense of sadness in his voice. 

Hopefully, Kyungsoo wasn't putting on a facade for Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol eventually got downstairs to a pleasant sight of omelettes and toast sitting on the table for him, Kyungsoo's cooking abilities shining through in no matter what he made. Kyungsoo was seated on one side of the table, gesturing Chanyeol to sit with him. 

Chanyeol dug in right away, savouring the fluffy eggs dissolving on his tongue blending beautifully with the crispness of the toast. 

He was so caught up in eating that he hadn't spoken a word or looked up until he was almost done, looking up to see Kyungsoo staring at him. 

Chanyeol almost choked on the egg, "This is great as always." His voice came muffled with the food in his mouth.

A small smile graced Kyungsoo's lips but he quickly looked down, hiding his reaction. Chanyeol decided to change the topic.

"Do you think you can come back to work or do you want some rest?" Kyungsoo tapped the table a few times. 

"I'll stay home today..." He answered.

Chanyeol reached over and placed his hand on top of Kyungsoo's, his husband didn't flinch away from the touch, instead, looking up slowly to meet his eyes.

"Remember Kyungsoo, I'm here for you." Kyungsoo gave him a tight-lipped smile and lowered his gaze again, focusing on Chanyeol's hand on top of his.

Chanyeol savoured the moment, even if their fingers weren't intertwined like last night, the feeling of Kyungsoo's hand under his was comfortable.

Eventually, Kyungsoo slowly pulled his hand away. He got up and collected Chanyeol's plate from the table.

"You should get going soon or you'll be late."

~~

Chanyeol made it to the office with a spare 15 minutes before the meeting. After his time with Kyungsoo last night he had to talk to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun, as usual, was playing solitaire on his computer.

"Jongin left him for someone else." Baekhyun spun around his chair to face Chanyeol.

"That's a weird way to say good morning." Baekhyun said lightheartedly, "Is that what happened with Kyungsoo and Jongin?"

"It's what he and Minseok told me last night but Baekhyun." Chanyeol paced back and forth in front of Baekhyun, trying to collect his thoughts, "Something's not making sense."

"Sounds clear as day to me." Baekhyun remarked, "But it's weird if Kyungsoo never wanted to talk about it with me before if that's all that's happened."

"That's because I think there's more." Chanyeol's pacing got faster. "He has recorded at the hospital"

"Records of what?"

"He was assaulted before!" Baekhyun gasped, holding his hand to his mouth. 

"No way......" He whispered behind his hands

"A blunt force trauma, 4 broken ribs, and cuts and bruises all over his body." Chanyeol recited the report from memory. "The injuries are in the hospital record but it was never recorded as assault." 

Baekhyun shook his head in disbelief, "There's no way that's not on some news report." Chanyeol's mood lightened up a bit, Baekhyun was on the same page as him. 

"That's what I was going to ask you since you're better at navigating the internet. I have to go into a meeting but check the news from that week, there has got to be a headline somewhere about a victim of assault, check everywhere."

"Ay ay, Captain." Chanyeol laughed as Baekhyun saluted him and he left.

~~

Chanyeol took his usual spot beside Junmyeon and the meeting worked like it did every month, as every department head came forward with a summary report of all the work concluded so far. There were no hitches anywhere, even in the accounting department where Baekhyun had covered for all of Kyungsoo's work instead.

"Progress is going smoothly, good work everyone." Yoora smiled happily at everyone in the room.

She clasped her hands together, "Now, I've heard representatives from the company selling the land is set to come to Korea soon."

"The people who own the land don't live in Korea?"

"No, they're based in China." Several "oohs" and "aahs" filled the room. "It's Han Incorporation."

The room fell silent, Han incorporation was known as one of the most successful businesses in China. But the silence was caused by the fact that Park Corporations had tried to strike a partnership with the company about 6 years ago when they were trying to expand globally, but they were shut down harshly, with no specific reason.

The biggest reaction came from Junmyeon though, who's breath hitched briefly before he spoke up.

"Why are we so adamant about buying from a company that hasn't wanted to work with us?" Junmyeon asked.

"Times have passed and a transaction is different from a partnership, we'll have a chance," Yoora said. 

The room hummed in agreement, Yoora then turned to her assistant, who was typing away on a laptop in front of him.

"Minhyun any updates on the competition?"

"Everyone's been keeping their proposals on the down-low." "And the foreign businesses could be flying anywhere between now and the deadline. They've also been on the down-low though."

"Where are they flying in from?" Yoora asked.

"We have 2 from Germany, 6 from China, 4 from Japan, 3 from the United States, and 1 from Canada."

"Thank you Minhyun, please email that to me" Yoora turned to the room, "And with that, the meeting is concluded, please check your emails regularly and make sure your departments stay on task, thank you."

Everyone quietly filed out of the room. Chanyeol grabbed Junmyeon's arm and pulled him in the direction of the elevator. 

"What?' Junmyeon sputtered out, a little confused at Chanyeol's action. 

"There's something I wanted to talk about."

~~

Chanyeol filled Junmyeon in on the details of Kyungsoo's records as they made their way to Baekhyun's floor. Junmyeon didn't seem that surprised by what Chanyeol was telling him, which was a little strange, but Junmyeon was always the reserved type, one to let the information sink in without much of a reaction.

Baekhyun was typing furiously, eyebrows furrowed in concentration when they made it to his desk.

"So what did you find?" Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol, he already had a dejected look on his face, this wasn't good.

"There's no record of anything. I looked everywhere. There's nothing relevant in the news within that week."

"That can't be possible!" Chanyeol went onto Baekhyun's computer and flipped through all the tabs himself, checking every news website and archive Baekhyun had pulled up to that week in January but they were all blank.

"Someone really did wipe out all the news." Junmyeon muttered, and then his voice lowered, almost inaudible, "That's weird, I swear I saw it before," 

But Chanyeol heard it, "What did you say?" He turned around instantaneously and locked eyes with Junmyeon. 

Junmyeon looked away from him and looked at Baekhyun. 

"I was thinking about where to treat Baekhyun for lunch, his work was getting a lot of praise at the meeting so I think he deserves it." 

"Finally!" Baekhyun jumped out of his chair, "I'm getting some good recognition around here, I'll go grab my coat. Chanyeol we'll talk about this later." Baekhyun walked off with a hop and a skip. 

"Are you coming Chanyeol?" Junmyeon asked. 

"I'm good, maybe some other time." Junmyeon nodded and walked away. 

Chanyeol was going to let that slide, maybe he was being delusional. 

~~~

Later, Chanyeol came home to the smell of fresh lemons, the smell of Kyungsoo's air freshener which meant he cleaned the house. And already looking at the shiny coffee table in the living room, Kyungsoo definitely cleaned the house.

Chanyeol could hear Kyungsoo humming a tune along with the sounds of a pot sizzling in the kitchen, he walked in.

Kyungsoo spun around at the sound of Chanyeol's footsteps, dressed up in a plain green apron that was hugging all the right places. Chanyeol gulped hard but held himself together.

"You're home!" Kyungsoo exclaimed, showing off his heart-stopping smile.

"I am." Chanyeol couldn't help but grin as wide as well.

Even though it was enjoyable to see Kyungsoo so upbeat after the last few days. Chanyeol felt a little off-put by the burst of energy, it was almost like a flip had switched in Kyungsoo.

"You're timing's good too, the soup just finished." Kyungsoo grabbed two bowls from the side. "We can start eating."

Chanyeol helped Kyungsoo set the table in comfortable silence, and they launched into their typical routine, Chanyeol recounting his day and Kyungsoo listening.

"Are you going to come back to work tomorrow?" Chanyeol brought up after a while. 

"I'll-" Kyungsoo's eyes wandered over the ceiling, pondering, "I'll wait a while."

"That's okay, take as long as you need."

~~

Chanyeol came into work the next day immediately looking for Baekhyun, hoping to see if his friend had done some overnight investigation. But his cubicle was empty and there was no trace that he came in the morning. 

He tried the next best thing, Junmyeon. 

Slowly walking into Junmyeon's office, Junmyeon had his head down on the desk and Chanyeol had a hard time telling if he was asleep or deep in thought.

"Junmyeon?"

"Chanyeol!" Junmyeon jolted up from the desk, Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at him, Junmyeon was being a bit out of character, he was never one to sleep on the job. 

"You tired? I've never seen you take a nap on the job before."

"Yeah." Junmyeon straightened his blazer out, "Working on that big project last night."

What a workaholic. "You should take it easy, we still have over two months left," Chanyeol commented. "Have you seen Baekhyun?"

"Baekhyun told me he wasn't coming in today," Junmyeon stated. Chanyeol frowned, Baekhyun usually made his vacations very obvious, loudly announcing them around the office weeks before they happened and everyone knew he spends his sick days for the holiday season. 

"Well, that's a first." Chanyeol turned towards the door, "I'll let you rest for now."

Chanyeol decidedly tried to bury himself in work that day, it was a little overwhelming to try and deal with the assault case. Baekhyun was absent, Junmyeon looked exhausted, and it didn't feel right to bring up to Yoora when she was so busy handling the project, so no one could help him anyways. 

~~

Chanyeol came home to the sounds of several voices coming from the kitchen, a lively atmosphere present in the house as he stepped inside. He could distinctively make out the voices, Baekhyun and Jongdae's loud chatter flowing with Kyungsoo's and Minseok's softer voices.

"Chanyeol?" The other voices quieted down as Kyungsoo called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me," Chanyeol called back, taking his shoes off and walking to the kitchen.

Baekhyun, Minseok, and Jongdae were seated at the table and waved at him as he appeared.

There was a feast of food laid out before him, all of Kyungsoo's go-to dishes for guests which included a dish of mushroom and kimchi infused lasagna, black sesame galbi, and tamarind samgyetang.

But something clicked in Chanyeol's brain, these were all dishes that Kyungsoo had included in his cookbook, did he remember something else? And where was Kyungsoo?

"I'm over here," Kyungsoo said as if he could sense Chanyeol's thoughts. He walked out of the pantry with soy sauce in hand.

It wasn't the soy sauce that caught Chanyeol's eye though.

"Your head....."

Kyungsoo's head was shaved with a thin layer of hair leftover keeping him from being bald.

Never in their 6 years together had Kyungsoo cut his hair this short and while the sight was quite a shock to Chanyeol, it was also breathtaking.

Kyungsoo's features were somehow more accentuated with the absence of his hair, creating a sharper and softer look that made him look even more adorably handsome than he usually is.

"Wow...." Chanyeol breathed out. "You look great Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo received the reaction well, smiling brightly at Chanyeol.

"Surprise." The wide smile made Chanyeol's heart swell, even more, he could feel the tips of his ears turning red.

"He's an egghead now!" With his snide remark, Baekhyun ruined the moment. Kyungsoo promptly threw the soy sauce bottle at Baekhyun, who managed to catch it with a yelp, not before some of the sauce splashed onto his face. Jongdae snickered at his misfortune.

Kyungsoo refocussed his attention on Chanyeol, "You should go freshen up, and then join us for dinner okay?"

Chanyeol nodded giddily, skipping out of the kitchen, ignoring Baekhyun's comment about him acting like a teenager because he couldn't help it. It was the second day in a row that Kyungsoo has been happier, and it made Chanyeol happy as well.

Dinner with their friends was pleasant, but Chanyeol couldn't stop himself from looking at Kyungsoo constantly, he was practically glowing with his new look. Baekhyun seemed to catch on but all he did was send knowing and confusing looks between the two of them. 

Eventually, they all left because it was the middle of the week, after all, Baekhyun had work and Minseok and Jongdae had a video call with their publisher in the states in the morning.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow Kyungsoo!" Baekhyun called out as the door closed. 

Chanyeol looked at Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo hadn't told him of his plans to come back to work.

"Oh, you're coming back to work tomorrow?" Kyungsoo nodded timidly.

"Yeah."

~~

Kyungsoo seemed excited to go to work tomorrow, maybe it was the relief from drowning in his own thoughts but Chanyeol's heart swelled a little when Kyungsoo waved him off on the elevator with a little pep in his step and a smile on his face. 

Chanyeol used that same energy and carried on through the first half of his day joyfully. 

That is until he walked into the break room, intending to grab a cup of coffee before one of his meetings.

He found Kyungsoo sitting alone on a chair, spaced out and clutching a half empty bottle of water.

"Hi, Kyungsoo." Kyungsoo's gaze snapped from the wall and onto Chanyeol, he looked dazed.

"Hi...." Kyungsoo said in a quiet voice. His head turned a bit and Chanyeol could see how pale his face was.

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo bit his lip at Chanyeol's question, shaking the water bottle in his hand a little.

"I'm fine, just not used to working." Chanyeol didn't buy it, but he wasn't going to stress Kyungsoo out by prodding the matter.

"Okay, you don't look too good." Chanyeol placed his hand on Kyungsoo's forehead, checking for a fever, Kyungsoo didn't flinch away from the contact.

Locating no sign of sickness, Chanyeol lowered himself to Kyungsoo's level.

"Look, I have a web meeting with one of the constructors but as soon as I'm done we'll go home." Kyungsoo weakly nodded. "Okay, I'll let you be, for now, take it easy." Chanyeol patted Kyungsoo's shoulder and walked out of the break room.

Chanyeol's mind kept constantly drifting during his call, worrying about Kyungsoo's condition. He had to apologize numerous times for missing the statistics the constructor was sharing.

He hurried over to Kyungsoo's department after and was relieved to see Kyungsoo looking more refreshed, writing out a credit report.

Baekhyun was beside him, being Baekhyun, spinning around on his chair and singing along to some old Girls' Generation song playing on his phone. Despite how annoying Baekhyun was coming across, Kyungsoo had a pleasant smile on his face.

"You really should have just become an idol with those pipes Baekhyun," Chanyeol commented as he approached cubicles, immediately gaining the attention of both of them. "But then yet again, you can't dance for your life."

Baekhyun gasped and jumped to his feet"Are you challenging me to a round of Just Dance!?!?!" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and flicked Baekhyun's forehead, earning a yelp from him

"He would never, he'd go blind the moment he'd see you shake your hips." Baekhyun shot him a middle finger but was laughing out loud.

"Anyways, Kyungsoo, are you all packed up?" Chanyeol asked.

"Yeah." Kyungsoo filed away the finished report into a folder and got up with his bag.

"See you tomorrow!" Baekhyun chirped as he resumed his Girls' Generation party.

They both laughed at his dorky antiques and left the office to go home.

~~

Chanyeol cooked dinner that night, knowing Kyungsoo wasn't at his best. He's not the world's best cook like his husband, but he can cook some damn good salmon, so that's what they ate.

Kyungsoo's face lit up when he walked downstairs, having taken a nap when they got home. 

"Thanks for cooking dinner." 

"It's always a pleasure." Chanyeol cringed at himself as those words left his mouth, even though he was trying to give Kyungsoo distance, that came off a bit too formal, Kyungsoo didn't seem to mind though, eyebrows furrowed as he sat down, he looked like he was drowning in his own thoughts.

Chanyeol wouldn't need to think about what Kyungsoo was thinking about, because Kyungsoo spoke shortly after.

"Can you show me a drama that we used to watch together later?" Chanyeol liked his idea a lot, he grinned.

"Sure. We can do Weightlifting Fairy since I talked about it before."

And that's how both of them ended up on the couch later, sitting side by side.

Chanyeol hadn't forced Kyungsoo to sit beside him, the shorter chose to sit there, and the subtle contact of their arms was enough for Chanyeol at the moment.

Kyungsoo made some choice comments, particularly criticizing the snooty gymnastics team and that one douchebag swimmer that had Chanyeol laughing.

After the first episode, Kyungsoo grabbed a blanket and draped it over the both of them wordlessly, Chanyeol chose to not comment. 

Somewhere in the middle of the second episode, Kyungsoo had dozed off, somehow finding perch on Chanyeol's shoulder. Chanyeol revelled in the feeling, tilting his head over to rest it on top of Kyungsoo's while he watched the rest of the episode.

As the credits rolled and the background OST kicked in, Chanyeol scooped up Kyungsoo bridal style and carried him upstairs.

Kyungsoo seemed to be slightly awake, unconsciously wrapping his arms around Chanyeol's neck and nuzzling into his neck.

Chanyeol tried to ignore the thought that Kyungsoo was probably dreaming of being in Jongin's arms. 

He tucked Kyungsoo into his bed and Chanyeol's heart melted seeing how Kyungsoo immediately reacted to being placed inside the bed, snuggling inside the covers. If only he could kiss him. 

So he did, Chanyeol took a risk and pecked Kyungsoo's forehead, it's not like Kyungsoo would remember it anyway.

Kyungsoo didn't react, off in dreamland, but Chanyeol couldn't help but smile at his own actions. He missed that feeling, now only if it was Kyungsoo's lips on his.

"Goodnight Soo." He whispered and he walked out of the room, to get ready to sleep in the other room.

❤️

**D-72**

Kyungsoo opened his eyes to the sight of Chanyeol holding him, a very content face on the taller's face as he was still in dreamland. Kyungsoo almost instinctively jumped out of Chanyeol's arms but he was honestly comfortable so he let himself revel in the feeling. 

Since he and Chanyeol had been married so long, he probably had woken up to this same feeling all the time.

In fact, he can vividly yet barely remember what it was actually like to have Jongin's body against his. Maybe it was a true testament to how long he's last been with Jongin.

And then the thoughts of last night came rushing in and Kyungsoo felt his breath quiver already, feeling vulnerable at the memories. 

But then he felt Chanyeol's fingers slowly trace over his back to soothe him, Kyungsoo looked up again, Chanyeol showed no signed of actually being awake, he was doing it out of his consciousness. 

And it actually worked, Kyungsoo listened to Chanyeol's soft breaths for a while, the sounds and the warmth somehow lulling him back to sleep except the wall clock caught his eye and he realized he should probably make breakfast for them.

Kyungsoo tried to shimmy out of Chanyeol's hold but the arms around him pulled him even closer and tighter than before.

"Five more minutes Soo......" Chanyeol muttered unconsciously. 

Kyungsoo felt his face heat up even more at the contact and hearing Chanyeol call him Soo. He knows he felt awkward hearing it before but this time It felt different, hearing it from Chanyeol. But Kyungsoo couldn't put his finger on what felt different.

He eventually got himself out of the hold without waking Chanyeol up, and the memories of last night raced through his head while he was in the bathroom and when he started cooking in the kitchen. 

**

The bedroom door slowly creaked open, Kyungsoo stepping inside with adorably dishevelled hair. 

Kyungsoo slowly peeked his head in, making eye contact with Chanyeol who looked like he had just woken up. 

"I made breakfast." Kyungsoo said softly, "Come after you get ready for work." 

Chanyeol smiled tiredly, "Thanks Kyungsoo." Something in the combination of Chanyeol's bedhead and the lazy smile made Kyungsoo's heart race a little bit. Barely noticeable, but it was enough to have Kyungsoo quickly closing the door and going downstairs. 

He ended up mindlessly picking at his food, taking random bites of food until he heard Chanyeol come down the stairs. Not knowing what to say, he simply gestured Chanyeol to come over and eat. 

He was thankful that Chanyeol didn't try to talk either, maybe it was because he was tired but the only noise at the table was chewing and cutlery clanking. 

Chanyeol made a quiet hum and Kyungsoo looked at him, Chanyeol was looking down at his plate, still immersed in his food. 

Chanyeol ended up looking up right after, choking on his egg when they made eye contact, almost causing Kyungsoo to laugh.

"This is great as always," Chanyeol said, voice muffled from the food, God he was such a goof, it was cute. 

Wait, what? 

Kyungsoo quickly looked down, hiding his reaction, that unexpected thought had taken him for a whirlwind. 

Chanyeol seemed to sense the change in mood and changed the topic. "Do you think you can come back to work or do you want some rest?" 

Kyungsoo tapped the table a few times. 

He needed to figure something out.

"I'll stay home today..." He answered, still looking down. 

And then he felt Chanyeol place his hand on top of his on the table, a part of Kyungsoo froze but he didn't dare pull away from the touch.

Kyungsoo slowly looked up to Chanyeol. who was looking at him endearingly?

"Remember Kyungsoo, I'm here for you." The concern in his voice made Kyungsoo's heart beat faster, but all he could do was give Chanyeol a tight-lipped smile and lowered his gaze again, focusing on Chanyeol's hand on top of his. 

Kyungsoo concentrated hard on it, there was an undeniable warmth to it, something about it felt so right, something so familiar, but he still couldn't trace it.

Eventually, the thoughts became too much to bear and Kyungsoo slowly pulled his hand away. He got up and collected Chanyeol's plate from the table.

"You should get going soon or you'll be late." He reasoned. 

When he heard Chanyeol's car drive away a while later he set out the cleaning supplies he found in the supply closet earlier.

The house wasn't a mess, but there was something about making the house smell and feel like it was brand new, and maybe it would uncover something.

And already, as he wiped down the coffee table in the living room, a basket of photo albums under it caught his eye, he picked up one of them and ran his fingers over the cover, a generic flower dotted the flower album, but the thought of opening it made Kyungsoo sweat.

He didn't think about checking past photos, would photos make him remember his past with Chanyeol?

He flipped through the pages and he almost felt like he was looking at a clone.

As he traced his fingers over the images, he couldn't remember experiencing any of them. 

Countless photos of him holding Chanyeol's hand, gazing at him like he was the universe, and even kissing him, and nothing was sparking any sort of memory in his brain. 

He tried to create hypothetical scenarios for every photo he saw. 

A photo in ugly Christmas sweaters was probably for a Christmas party, a photo with cake smeared across their faces was probably for a birthday, a picture of Kyungsoo petting a llama was probably from a date at the petting zoo. 

But one photo seemed impossible to come up with a scenario for.

It was a photo of Chanyeol sitting in a hospital bed, cast on his arm giving the camera a cheeky smile and a thumbs up, beside him Kyungsoo was leaning against the railing of the bed, body language reading pissed but he was looking at Chanyeol endearingly. 

A million possibilities ran through Kyungsoo's mind on why the picture was taken and how Chanyeol broke his arm. 

Tripping? Falling down the stairs? 

But there was a signature in the corner of the photo that looked like Baekhyun's, so Kyungsoo pulled out the photo and turned it around.

_A reminder so that you stop climbing apple trees to pick the prettiest apples just because they remind you of your husband._

_-Baekhyun_

Kyungsoo's cheeks flushed red, he could tell that Chanyeol really was a sweetheart and this further solidified that. 

And all Kyungsoo had done so far was nothing for Chanyeol. He could tell a part of Chanyeol was losing hope, Kyungsoo's seen him space out more lately, a concentrated frown decorating his face often. 

And Kyungsoo knew that he promised to try for Chanyeol after the accident but he wasn't because he was so hung up on Jongin.

But now that he knew the truth, so it was only natural that he truthfully stick to the promise made before. 

He really was going to try for Chanyeol. 

He was going to put the album down but a few pieces of paper slid out onto the floor. 

Kyungsoo picked them up and eyed them. 

They were food recipes, scrawled messily but readable because Kyungsoo could tell it was his writing. 

He pocketed the papers, maybe he'd use them to cook sometime.

~~

Kyungsoo was humming in the kitchen, cooking dinner for Chanyeol when he heard the taller's footsteps enter the kitchen. 

He turned around and smiled at Chanyeol.

"You're home!" He exclaimed. 

"I am." Chanyeol matched Kyungsoo's smile.

Kyungsoo could tell that Chanyeol was surprised by his energy, and probably his actions today, but he was determined to keep showing that he was trying. 

"You're timing's good too, the soup just finished." Kyungsoo grabbed two bowls from the side. "We can start eating."

~~

Later that night, when they were both getting ready for bed, they stopped at the intersection in the hallway before they both departed into their own rooms

"Thank you for cooking dinner and cleaning the house, it really means a lot," Chanyeol said. Kyungsoo was glad that his actions were reaching Chanyeol.

"It was nothing, but I'm glad you appreciate it." And then Chanyeol was running his fingers through Kyungsoo's hair, looking at him with a soft smile. 

The action made Kyungsoo freeze, he wasn't expecting it. Chanyeol seemed to have misinterpreted the reaction and quickly withdrew his hand, smiling apologetically. 

"I guess I'll head to bed now, see you tomorrow." Chanyeol retreated into his room. 

Lying in his bed later, Kyungsoo couldn't stop running his fingers through his hair, it wasn't that Chanyeol had done anything necessarily wrong, but one of Jongin's favourite things to do with Kyungsoo was run his fingers through his hair.

Kyungsoo ran his fingers through his hair one last time, closing his eyes, remembering how Jongin would run his fingers slowly and curl Kyungsoo's hair up at the very last second before retracting his hand, only for it to come back again. 

Maybe something was holding him back.

Kyungsoo opened his eyes. 

He knew how he was going to let go. 

~~

Kyungsoo did the same thing he did yesterday, cooking breakfast and sending Chanyeol off, but he had different plans for the day.

And those plans came bursting through the door a couple of hours later.

"I'm here!" Baekhyun jumped into the house as Kyungsoo opened the door. Kyungsoo laughed at Baekhyun's energy.

"Junmyeon almost killed me when I said I wasn't going to come into work, but I know he'd never kill me, if anyone would kill me first it'd probably be you," Baekhyun said, hanging up his jacket.

"Now, are we planning a games day? Maybe it'll be better than a games night!"

"Actually," Kyungsoo started, "I had something else in mind."

"Wait," Baekhyun said, "I'm hungry."

Kyungsoo frowned, "There's food on the table." He grumbled.

"Wow, you still know me so well!" Baekhyun exclaimed, already making his way to the kitchen.

"No, you're just lucky I didn't clean up the table yet!" Kyungsoo shouted after him, but he still smiled, knowing fully well that he set the table for Baekhyun earlier.

After letting him eat, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo went to the bathroom.

"Woah Kyungsoo, I know we've showered together before but I wasn't feeling it right now." Baekhyun joked when he walked in.

Kyungsoo shuddered, "I don't remember that and I feel like I don't want to remember seeing you naked."

Baekhyun pouted, "Are we cleaning the bathroom? I'm not good at scrubbing toilets."

"No." Kyungsoo deadpanned, instead, shoving an electric razor into Baekhyun's hands.

"I don't want to be bald!" Baekhyun shouted. Kyungsoo whacked him on the head.

"Not you! Me!" Baekhyun quieted down and stared at Kyungsoo.

"You want me to shave your head?"

"Yes?"

"I--I--I'm so happy!" Baekhyun threw his arms around Kyungsoo, "Now I know you trust me!" Baekhyun smirked and whispered into Kyungsoo's ears. "But what if I kill you with this razor."

Kyungsoo shut his eyes and put his fingers to his temple, "Don't make me regret this decision or else I'll kill you with the razor."

~~

While Baekhuyn was - to no one's surprise - actually using the shower, Minseok and Jongdae arrived at the house later in the afternoon upon Kyungsoo's invitation to make dinner for them, and when they arrived, Kyungsoo had expected them to be surprised at his new appearance.

"Oh, you shaved your head," Minseok said nonchalantly.

"You're not surprised?" Kyungsoo said.

"How does it feel?" Jongdae asked. 

"It feels interesting, I've never shaved my head before." Jongdae laughed at him and Kyungsoo looked back at him confused.

"You know," Minseok stepped out of his shoes, "You've shaved your head before." Minseok stated.

"I did?" Kyungsoo asked, running his hand over his head. There's no way he had, this feeling was so new.

"You shaved your head to get over Jongin the first time...."

**

_"Kyungsoo we brought coffee...." Minseok and Jongdae were poking their heads into Kyungsoo's apartment, it was a week after the incident on the bridge and they were checking in on Kyungsoo._

_"...And donuts, the donuts were my idea!' Jongdae finished Minseok's sentence, racing ahead of Minseok through the doorway and placing the donuts on the coffee table._

_"Minseok? Jongdae?" Kyungsoo's hesitant voice came from the bathroom._

_"Yeah? It's us, come out." Minseok said._

_Kyungsoo stepped out of the bathroom and both Minseok and Jongdae's eyes widened. Minseok elbowed Jongdae, already hearing the snicker on his lips._

_Kyungsoo's head was half-shaven, with clumps of hair on his shoulder._

_"Hi,....." Kyungsoo said, smiling sheepishly whilst holding his razor._

_"You're shaving your head?"_

_"Yeah, I think it's time to," Kyungsoo swallowed, "It's time to move on."_

_Minseok grinned, "That's great Kyungsoo, Jongdae you can find something to cook for lunch and I'll help Kyungsoo out."_

_Jongdae nodded, skipping to the kitchen and leaving Kyungsoo and Minseok to their own business._

_They situated themselves in the bathroom, Kyungsoo looking at himself with a pleasant expression as Minseok positioned himself with the electric razor._

_"Stop." Kyungsoo held his hand out, stopping Minseok from continuing._

_"I need a minute." Kyungsoo's smile faltered, and tears welled in his eyes, but before Minseok could even react and try to comfort him in any way, he was already wiping his tears and taking a deep breath. He made eye contact with Minseok in the mirror and nodded._

_"I'm sick of crying over this, go for it."_

_And after the matter, when Kyungsoo was staring at himself in the mirror, biting at his lip as he stared at his reflection, unsure if he made the right decision, Minseok draped an arm over his shoulder and grinned at him in the mirror._

_"Relax a little, I think you look sharp."_

_Jongdae poked his head into the bathroom._

_"Like a rock."_

_Chaos ensued as Kyungsoo started chucking his fallen hair at Jongdae, but laughing nonetheless._

**

"But I had hair in my memory on the bridge?" Kyungsoo was a bit lost.

"You're right." Minseok crossed one of his legs over. "You shaved your head after that incident." 

"Why after that situation?" 

"Because you found out that- ow!" Jongdae started talking but Minseok elbowed him. Giving him an unreadable look. 

"What did I found out?" Kyungsoo asked, he wasn't going to let that slip by.

"You found out......" Minseok stopped and looked at Jongdae again, "You found out who Jongin got together with."

Kyungsoo's eyes widened, "Who?" 

"That's not important Kyungsoo," Minseok slung his arm around Kyungsoo, "What's important is that you're moving on from him, anyways you said you wanted to try some recipes, why don't we try those?" 

~~

Cooking the new recipes was a blast, but Kyungsoo couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity when he sliced tamarinds for the samgyetang and rolled the pasta dough for the lasagna.

He probably cooked them before but he couldn't remember when which was a growing trend in his thoughts (lol). 

Cooking with his friends was also a chaotic blast, with Baekhyun and Jongdae somehow getting flour everywhere at one point and Minseok accidentally tossing half of the mushrooms onto the floor. 

Soon enough, they were all seated around the table with the newly cooked dishes, all of their mouths watering at the food. 

In the middle of eating, Baekhyun offhandedly commented on wanting some soy sauce for his rice, which resulted in a heated debate against Jongdae over who the hell eats rice with soy sauce.

Kyungsoo took the opportunity to actually grab the mentioned soy sauce, making his way inside the pantry when he could distinctively make out Chanyeol's footsteps in the house. 

"Chanyeol?" Kyungsoo heard his friends quiet down when he called Chanyeol's name.

"Yeah, it's me," Chanyeol called back, Kyungsoo could hear Chanyeol walk into the kitchen and greet his friends. And that's when it hit him, he ran his hand over the smooth surface of his head.

Chanyeol had probably never seen Kyungsoo borderline bald, what if he didn't like it. 

Kyungsoo bit his lip, he hadn't thought about that, but it was pointless, the deed was already done.

"I'm over here," Kyungsoo said as he stepped out of the pantry with the soy sauce in his hand.

"Your head....." Chanyeol's eyes were wide as he let Kyungsoo's appearance sink it. Kyungsoo started to grow nervous the longer Chanyeol stared at him silently.

"Wow...." Chanyeol breathed out. "You look great Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo smiled brightly, "Surprise." He said. 

Kyungsoo watched the tips of Chanyeol's ears start to turn red and Kyungsoo could get used to the idea of flustering Chanyeol except Baekhyun had to go and ruin the moment. 

"He's an egghead now!" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and promptly threw the soy sauce bottle at Baekhyun, who managed to catch it with a yelp, not before some of the sauce splashed onto his face. Jongdae snickered at his misfortune.

Kyungsoo refocussed his attention on Chanyeol, "You should go freshen up, and then join us for dinner okay?"

Chanyeol nodded giddily and skipped out of the kitchen. 

"Who knew it would take a bald head to make that man act like a teenager again," Baekhyun commented as Kyungsoo sat back down. 

Kyungsoo grabbed the soy sauce bottle and held it menacingly over Baekhyun, "Are you asking for another round?" 

"No!" Baekhyun ducked away from the bottle. "Relax, remember, we all agreed that the bald head looks pretty snazzy on you." 

"Yeah, I can even see my reflection in it," Jongdae added in, they both did a high five for some reason at their awful joke while Minseok faces palmed, muttering something about the amount of hair that was still on Kyungsoo's head. 

"Anyways, what do you think Junmyeon would say about it tomorrow?" Kyungsoo cut in. 

"Tomorrow? But he's not going to visit you tomorrow.... wait, are you coming back to work tomorrow." Kyungsoo bit his lip and nodded. 

"Yes!" Baekhyun shouted, "I won't be lonely again!"

And later after dinner when his friends left and Baekhyun mentioned seeing him at work the next day, Chanyeol turned to Kyungsoo with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh, you're coming back to work tomorrow?" Kyungsoo nodded timidly.

"Yeah." Chanyeol grinned, his dimple poking out, his hand came up momentarily but he quickly put it down. 

"Were you going to pat my head?" Chanyeol blinked.

"Yeah sorry, a force of habit." 

"No it's okay, I don't mind." Kyungsoo motioned to his head, "You can do it, Jongdae was all over rubbing his hand over my head earlier anyways." 

Chanyeol's hand tentatively reached out and stroked Kyungsoo's head, the sensation was different, instead of feeling fingers weave through his hair, he could feel fingers glide over the expanse of his head. Kyungsoo could get used to this feeling. 

"Interesting huh?" Kyungsoo said when Chanyeol pulled away. 

"It is." Chanyeol smiled at him and Kyungsoo smiled back, the two were locked in a weird staring competition momentarily before Kyungsoo could feel his cheeks start to flare up. 

"I'll go to bed first," He announced, already walking away from Chanyeol.

"Goodnight Kyungsoo."

**

Kyungsoo was excited to go to work again, the change of pace would be nice and he didn't miss the way Chanyeol got flustered when he waved him off at the elevator.

Things were seemingly going back to normal, he was already having mini arguments with Baekhyun as he mused over budgeting sheets. 

Junmyeon had shown up a little later into the day, complimenting Kyungsoo on the new look and discussing the new project with him. 

"Chanyeol requested that you accompany him when negotiations with Han Incorporations start." The duo was now walking down the halls, on the way back from a printing job Junmyeon helped Kyungsoo do at one of the photocopiers. 

"But why? You told me that Baekhyun's been doing all the work that I was supposed to do, shouldn't it be him."

"We know, there's probably be other people there anyways, but Chanyeol wants you there for moral support." Kyungsoo bit his lip, the thought was cute, Chanyeol just wanted Kyungsoo's presence. 

They turned the corner and nearly bumped into Yoora who was turning the corner as well, she was holding a cup of coffee and gave them a soft smile.

"How are you feeling Kyungsoo?" She asked sweetly, looking at him with a concerned look on her face. 

"Uh... I'm okay." Kyungsoo said something about her was putting him in a daze. 

"That's good, take it easy okay?" Yoora nodded to him and walked away. Kyungsoo glanced at her outfit as she started walking. 

Yoora was dressed in a tight-fitting beige top and white skirt, adorned with a black blazer hanging off her shoulders. The whole outfit struck Kyungsoo as familiar, but what caught his eye the most was the golden **YP** embroidered on the right side.

~~

_"Nini?"_

_"Let's go Soo." Jongin tugged at Kyungsoo rather harshly, evident creases of anger sketched all over his face._

_They were on a walk in the park at night and Kyungsoo had gone to the bathroom, he came back to see Jongin having a conversation with a lady a fair distance away._

_Jongin noticed Kyungsoo come out of the bathroom and he stormed away from the lady, quickly making his way to Kyungsoo and pulling him away._

_Kyungsoo spared a glance at her, the night made it difficult to see her face, but the park lights showed her outfit, a tight-fitting beige top, white skirt, and a black blazer with the golden **YP** shining in the light._

**

"Woah there." A quick hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder steadied him, and he realized he was about to collapse. 

"Maybe coming back so soon wasn't such a good idea." Junmyeon said, "You should go sit in the break room for a bit."

Junmyeon wrapped his arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder to guide him to the break room, Kyungsoo watched Junmyeon look back, the hand on his shoulder tightening slightly. 

When Junmyeon settled Kyungsoo on a chair with a bottle of water, he spoke again. 

"I can tell you remembered something, what was it?" Kyungsoo stiffened, was it really the best idea to tell Junmyeon? 

"It.... it wasn't anything new, it was just a thought about something before my memory loss." Junmyeon gave him a stoic look, Kyungsoo's toes curled, he knew Junmyeon was seeing through him. 

"Okay, I'll let you rest now." Junmyeon patted Kyungsoo's head and left. 

Kyungsoo tried to think about the memory, if he remembered it correctly, Yoora argued with Jongin, but what was it?

~~

_"Who was she Jongin?" Kyungsoo asked when they were back in the car, the creases still on Jongin's face._

_"Nothing important, stupid business things." Jongin grumbled, "Can you make jjajangmyeon when we get to my house?"_

_Kyungsoo hummed in agreement as he started the car, he knew he wasn't going to get any details out of Jongin until his stomach was full at least._

~~

"Hi, Kyungsoo." Kyungsoo's gaze snapped from the wall as the voice broke this train of thought, Chanyeol was standing at the door.

"Hi...." Kyungsoo said in a quiet voice. Kyungsoo turned away, embarrassed knowing pale he looked. But he heard Chanyeol walk closer.

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo bit his lip at Chanyeol's question, shaking the water bottle in his hand a little.

"I'm fine, just not used to working." Chanyeol circled to stand in front of Kyungsoo. 

"Okay, but you don't look too good." Chanyeol placed his hand on Kyungsoo's forehead, checking for a fever, Kyungsoo didn't flinch away from the contact.

Locating no sign of sickness, Chanyeol lowered himself to Kyungsoo's level.

"Look, I have a web meeting with one of the constructors but as soon as I'm done we'll go home." Kyungsoo weakly nodded. "Okay, I'll let you be, for now, take it easy." Chanyeol patted Kyungsoo's shoulder and walked out of the break room.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath when he heard the door closed, this was exhausting.

~~

Chanyeol was thoughtful and hadn't asked any questions when they got home, and he had ushered Kyungsoo upstairs to take a nap to sleep some of the exhaustion away. 

When Kyungsoo tried to protest about dinner, Chanyeol waved it off with a curt "Don't worry about it." That had Kyungsoo going to take his nap.

The nap left him even more tired than before, but he mustered the energy to go back downstairs and he was pleasantly surprised at the cooked salmon set on the table, he hadn't realized how good Chanyeol was at cooking, maybe Kyungsoo had taught him a thing or two in the past.

"Thanks for cooking dinner," Kyungsoo said to Chanyeol. 

"It's always a pleasure." Kyungsoo watched Chanyeol grimace at his own words, Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows as he sat down. 

Chanyeol was still trying to keep a distance that Kyungsoo knew he set before, he picked apart at the fish wordlessly for a bit, trying to think about how he could try closing some distance with Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo thought of an idea after a while, "Can you show me a drama that we used to watch together later?" Chanyeol seemed to like his idea a lot, he grinned.

"Sure. We can do Weightlifting Fairy since I talked about it before."

And that's how Kyungsoo took advantage of the situation later when they were both sitting on the couch. Kyungsoo did the obvious thing when Chanyeol sat at one end of the couch and sat right beside Chanyeol, fuck the rest of the space. 

Chanyeol made no sort of reaction when their arms rustled side by side and the warmth and Kyungsoo was starting to enjoy revelling in someone else's presence like this.

During the first episode, Kyungsoo made some choice comments, particularly criticizing the snooty gymnastics team and that one douchebag swimmer that had Chanyeol laughing.

After the first episode, Kyungsoo decided to get up and grab a blanket and draped it over the both of them wordlessly, Chanyeol didn't say anything but Kyungsoo could feel him shift closer slightly when he sat back down again. 

Somewhere in the middle of the second episode, Kyungsoo had dozed off, only coming back to his sense a little when he heard the blaring of the drama's OST, signalling the end of the drama. 

He could feel that he was nestled on a very comfy pillow, oh wait that was Chanyeol's shoulder.

Kyungsoo fought his initial instinct to jump off of Chanyeol's shoulder in embarrassment, with his eyes still closed. The trick paid off and soon Chanyeol scooped up Kyungsoo bridal style and carried him upstairs. 

Kyungsoo couldn't help himself and unconsciously wrapped his arms around Chanyeol's neck and nuzzled into his neck.

Chanyeol hummed in content at Kyungsoo's touch and Kyungsoo felt his cheeks flare-up, hopefully, Chanyeol wouldn't notice that he was awake in the dim-lit halls.

Chanyeol placed Kyungsoo onto the bed and tucked him in, Kyungsoo still kept up his sleeping act, feeling Chanyeol's eyes linger on him for quite a while.

And suddenly, a pair of lips kissed his forehead softly, and Kyungsoo could hear his heart beating in his ears. He wasn't expecting Chanyeol to kiss him but the sensation was enough to make his heart burst.

"Goodnight Soo," Chanyeol whispered and walked out of the room.

And there it was again, Chanyeol was calling him Soo so sweetly again as he did a couple of days ago in bed if only he could say it when they were both fully awake.

It was only when Kyungsoo heard the door snap did he smile and whisper as well...

"Goodnight Chanyeol..........."

**End of chapter**

**I lied.**

~~

**D-71**

"No, you listen to me, I'm so sick of lying to him, I don't know how long this facade can keep up.'

"..................................." 

"No, you listen here I-."

The phone flat-lined, signalling that the person on the other side hung up. The person holding the phone sighed, pocketing it and put their head in their hands in frustration.

"I'm so tired of lying." They said.........

"Junmyeon?"

"Chanyeol!" Junmyeon jolted up from the desk, Chanyeol was standing at his doorway, looking at him quizzically.

"You tired? I've never seen you take a nap on the job before."

"Yeah." Junmyeon straightened his blazer out, "Working on that big project last night."

"You should take it easy, we still have over two months left," Chanyeol commented. "Have you seen Baekhyun?"

"Baekhyun told me he wasn't coming in today," Junmyeon stated. Chanyeol frowned.

"Well, that's a first." Chanyeol turned towards the door, "I'll let you rest for now."

Junmyeon waved at Chanyeol as he disappeared, and when the door clicked, he slumped into his seat. He grabbed one of the files for the project and stared at it for a long time, in a daze.

_**Han Incorporation** _

_**Main Representative Flying in For Negotiations** _

_**Lu Han.** _

"He's going to find out......"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUNMYEON?
> 
> JUNMYEON?
> 
> I think you all forgot he was still supposed to be relevant LMFAO, also a MAJOR change to the plot has resulted in the inclusion of the remaining 3 members of Exo so yes this fic will ger OT12.
> 
> And once again it brings up the question, where do the remaining 4 members fit into this story? (I also know you guys are aching to see Sehun) 
> 
> Also I hope you guys will appreciate kind of bald Kyungsoo xD, I've literally only read one fanfic with a bald Kyungsoo so I hope this is a nice change of pace for you guys (and the reason here for him going bald is pretty sad/cute bloop) 
> 
> And Kyungsoo wants to get closer to Chanyeol now! We'll see how that starts to play out in future chapters.
> 
> On a side note, I'm really sorry about the long time to update, partly caused by how long I accidentally made the chapter and also because OF HOW DAMN BUSY SCHOOL IS, taking 5 classes feels like a mistake, (I don't intend to make this mistake again next semester looks like it'll be 4 classes instead lol), we're not really thriving but the semester is kind of halfway done so there's that I guess. I have a midterm and 2 papers to write over the next two weeks so I'll officially consider my semester half over after I deal with that BS. Sorry for the personal rant it's good to let it out somewhere bloop.
> 
> Please share your thoughts and comments with me below because I honestly love reading comments!
> 
> Until next time <3


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